The attack on critical scholars within US universities has greatly accelerated with the election, statements, and actions of Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, such attacks are often most sharply focused on faculty who represent historically marginalized groups, such as Drs. Johnny Williams, Saida Gundy, Tressie McMillan-Cottom, and Zandria Robinson. Increasingly, these attacks are aimed squarely at critical education scholars such as Subini Annamma, Cheryl Matias, and Z Nicolazzo, among many others. In many of these cases, there are not just social media troll attacks, but actual physical threats such that these faculty and their families have to take measures to protect themselves physically and psychologically. See, for example, The Chronicle of Higher Education story on the attack on Professor Williams (I. A. Kamola, ‘Crashing the academic conversation,’ July, 9, 2017).
Unfortunately, some universities readily give in to these attacks, as happened with Dr. Williams at Trinity College in Connecticut. ‘At Trinity College, the president blasted Williams for “poor judgment” and sent the matter to the dean of faculty to review whether “any college policies or procedures were violated”’ (J. Daniels & A. Stein, ‘Protect scholars against attacks from the right,’ Inside Higher Ed, June 26, 2017). Or, some universities simply provide no support to faculty under attack, leaving these faculty on their own to protect themselves and their families. Moreover our professional organizations, such as American Education Research Association (AERA), have been largely silent on the issue—leaving targeted scholars isolated and vulnerable.
However, those of us who are senior scholars doing critical work and authoring articles in this special issue are strongly committed to providing our support to critical scholars under attack by Trump-inspired rightwing individuals and groups, like Campus Reform and The College Fix. We know these attacks are only going to grow, and we know we cannot just be in a defensive mode. This issue represents our first efforts to start publishing on these issues, speaking up in public forums (e.g., conferences, speaking engagements) and organizing within our universities and national organizations. In other words, as senior scholars, we are pledging to actively support and protect critical scholars in colleges and universities across the US. Further, we challenge those rightwing organizations—instead of focusing on mostly untenured junior scholars, the most vulnerable among us—to focus your fervor on us. We commit to standing against violence directed at these targeted scholars and speaking out against the attempts to censor critical work that addresses systemic inequities and power imbalances in education and society.
James Joseph ‘Jim’ Scheurich
Professor and Editor of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, School of Education, Indiana University – Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Angela Valenzuela
Professor and Program Head, Education Policy and Planning, University of Texas at Austin
Betty M. Merchant
Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
Catherine Lugg
Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Gerardo R. López
University of Utah
Patti Lather
Emeritus Professor, Education Studies, Ohio State University
Joyce E. King, PhD
Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning & Leadership, and Professor, Department of Educational Policy Studies, College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University
Cynthia B. Dillard, PhD (Nana Mansa II of Mpeasem, Ghana, West Africa)
Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education and Department Chair
Michael E. Dantley
Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University
Ira Bogotch
Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methods, Florida Atlantic University
Gary Anderson
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University