AAUP Files Brief in Case Involving Harassment of Climate Scientists

The AAUP submitted an amicus brief in support of faculty members who have been subjected to intrusive public records requests for e-mails related to their climate-science research. The AAUP brief, filed with the Arizona Court of Appeals in the case Energy & Environment Legal Institute v. Arizona Board of Regents, argues that the academic freedom to conduct research is essential to a vital university system and to the common good, and that this warrants protecting certain research records from disclosure.

The case arose from an extensive public records request that was made by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, which uses public records requests in a campaign against climate science. In similar past cases, AAUP briefs have been key to court decisions rejecting the requests.

In this case, E & E submitted public records requests that targeted two University of Arizona faculty members, climate researchers Malcolm Hughes and Jonathan Overpeck. E & E counsel said the suit was intended to “put false science on trial” and E & E vowed to “keep peppering universities around the country with similar requests under state open records laws.”

The current brief urges courts to "consider the best interests of the state to maintain a free and vital university system, which depends on the protection of academic freedom to engage in the free and open scientific debate necessary to create high quality academic research. Where the requests seek prepublication communications and other unpublished academic research materials, as in the case at bar, compelled disclosure would have a severe chilling effect on intellectual debate among researchers and scientists.”

We’ll update you on future developments and the continuing legal work of the AAUP. Do you want to support AAUP’s legal work? Donate to the Legal Defense Fund of the AAUP Foundation.

Best,
Aaron Nisenson,
Senior Counsel, AAUP

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Larry Stettner's obituary, a most beloved member of our faculty.

Larry Stettner  (1938-2017)

     Dr. Larry Stettner, retired Wayne State University Psychology Professor and past President of WSU’s AAUP, died after a heart attack in Southwest Harbor, Maine, on May 1, 2017.  Born in Brooklyn and an honors graduate of Brooklyn College, he received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1963.  Hired into the Biopsychology Area of the WSU Psychology Department, he and his family moved to Detroit.  In 1967, he was awarded a year’s leave and an NIH grant for research at the NIH Lab in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  His research interests early in his career involved animal models.  He studied learning in birds after brain lesions and co-authored a widely reprinted 1968 paper in Scientific American, “The Brain of Birds”.  His teaching and research reflected his ethological perspective.  His course on animal behavior was popular and former students report that his primatology course was unforgettable.  He formed an affiliation with the Detroit Zoo that allowed his students to carry out observational studies of primates.  In one course, students studied a troop with female adults, but no male adults, and watched leaders emerge.  Later in his career he focused on several aspects of human behavior: human sexuality, facial expressions of emotion, and alexithymia.  One of his frequent collaborators in the study of alexithymia was Dr. Mark Lumley.

     Larry was active in establishing the faculty union at WSU, was a member of the union’s negotiating team many times, and served as AAUP President.  He greatly enjoyed teaching and was known as one of the most accepting, supportive professors in the Department.  Absolutely exuberant about his subject matter and his students, he received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1987.  The framed award document was proudly displayed in his office until he retired and then in his home study in Maine. 

  

more at WSU Psychology Department 

Oakland University's new president.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education's email Your Daily Briefing

Oakland University might have narrowly avoided a faculty rebellion with its choice of a new president, Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, a pediatric endocrinologist and former chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Health System. A survey conducted by Oakland’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors found intense opposition to the other finalist, Carl T. Camden, chief executive officer of Kelly Services, a temporary-staffing company based in Michigan. More than seven in 10 respondents expressed strong disagreement when asked if Mr. Camden would advance the university’s academic mission. Many expressed bewilderment that he topped a national search, and a few threatened to resign if he was picked. –Peter Schmidt