BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

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Salvete
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BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

Post by Salvete »

This is troubling. I’m surprised a more popular poster hasn’t posted this yet, but it appears that one Justin Collings, a new ass. Dean has laid down the law, so to speak.

BYU faculty members urged to align their teaching, research better with LDS tenets
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dastardly stem
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Re: BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

Post by dastardly stem »

I like this. From Stacey Shaw professor for BYU's School of Social Work:
As someone whose research focuses on refugees, she said it felt to her as an invitation to “be creative” in how she applies the teachings of Jesus Christ to her work.

“We have examples of how he treated the stranger or someone who was physically suffering,” she said, “but how do we apply that to our program or our social welfare policy?”
Looking for the positive.

But what is expected from a religious institution. Later in the article:
Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, director of the Campus Free Expression Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank,
She says:
If there is anything BYU professors can take comfort in, Merrill offered, it’s that they are far from alone in finding themselves in the middle of an often tense debate about how much latitude schools — especially private ones — have when it comes to shaping policies meant to preserve and uphold their identities.

Battles have broken out on campuses across the country over policies relating to everything from LGBTQ rights to diversity, equity, inclusion and COVID-19.

“The questions I see BYU wrestling with,” she said, “are really typical.”
I guess it happens a lot, for private schools. Probably, quite often, for religious schools.
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Dr. Sunstoned
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Re: BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

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I gather from this article that department chairs and deans at Brigham Young University are under pressure to revise their criteria for promotion to better reward faculty whose work supports the teachings of the school’s owner, which we know is the church.

The instruction to do so came in a speech given to department heads in November by Justin Collings, who is the the newly appointed YP of faculty development. Collings stated that the guidelines for promotion and tenure should not “merely mimic analogous documents at other schools” but instead “reflect, reinforce and propel our unique and inspired mission.”

Throughout history one of the first things a totalitarian regime does is suppress freedoms. Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. And they start at the universities. history is rife with examples, Russia in the 1920s, Germany in the 1930s, Iran and Ron DeSantis today.

There is a long list of professors who have been pushed out, often for no other reason than a social media post supporting LGBTQ rights. These things have been noted by the press and by the academic community, and it hurts the reputation of the school. I am really disturbed by this trend.
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malkie
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Re: BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

Post by malkie »

Dr. Sunstoned wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:09 am
I gather from this article that department chairs and deans at Brigham Young University are under pressure to revise their criteria for promotion to better reward faculty whose work supports the teachings of the school’s owner, which we know is the church.

The instruction to do so came in a speech given to department heads in November by Justin Collings, who is the the newly appointed YP of faculty development. Collings stated that the guidelines for promotion and tenure should not “merely mimic analogous documents at other schools” but instead “reflect, reinforce and propel our unique and inspired mission.”

Throughout history one of the first things a totalitarian regime does is suppress freedoms. Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. And they start at the universities. history is rife with examples, Russia in the 1920s, Germany in the 1930s, Iran and Ron DeSantis today.

There is a long list of professors who have been pushed out, often for no other reason than a social media post supporting LGBTQ rights. These things have been noted by the press and by the academic community, and it hurts the reputation of the school. I am really disturbed by this trend.
Perhaps hiring decisions are also affected, in addition to those for promotion and tenure.

I think many of us are likely aware of the rumours from a few years ago about how even then eminently qualified - even outstanding - individuals were not hired based on the perception that they were not totally dedicated to the church. Many of us can think of at least one example.
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dastardly stem
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Re: BYU Faculty: Fall In Line Or Else!

Post by dastardly stem »

Dr. Sunstoned wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:09 am
I gather from this article that department chairs and deans at Brigham Young University are under pressure to revise their criteria for promotion to better reward faculty whose work supports the teachings of the school’s owner, which we know is the church.

The instruction to do so came in a speech given to department heads in November by Justin Collings, who is the the newly appointed YP of faculty development. Collings stated that the guidelines for promotion and tenure should not “merely mimic analogous documents at other schools” but instead “reflect, reinforce and propel our unique and inspired mission.”

Throughout history one of the first things a totalitarian regime does is suppress freedoms. Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. And they start at the universities. history is rife with examples, Russia in the 1920s, Germany in the 1930s, Iran and Ron DeSantis today.

There is a long list of professors who have been pushed out, often for no other reason than a social media post supporting LGBTQ rights. These things have been noted by the press and by the academic community, and it hurts the reputation of the school. I am really disturbed by this trend.
youv've raised some interesting comparisons, Dr. Sunstoned. It is a concern of mine with regards to religion--this energy to control people and limit freedoms. I'd say a large threat to our comfortable way of life today is Christian nationalism--this hope to de-secularize and shout out the diversity of thought we prize. This move at BYU on a smaller scale feels in line with that thinking for sure. Its really difficult when players involved, particularly those with power, think they are on the right side of good and bad. On the conservative side we need to see a Barry Goldwater type to help straighten them out--Goldwater retorted, "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
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