Hi all, Sharing a statement issued by CADHE in response to recent messaging around intellectual freedom from the Executive Vice Chancellor Alvero. Best, Emily -- Emily Drabinski Associate Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Queens, NY 11367-1597 718-997-3629 Book time with Emily Drabinski <https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/649fc09718224602acdaac0cd5a0e57c@qc.cuny.edu?anonymous&ismsaljsauthenabled&ep=pcard> From: Larissa Swedell <Larissa.Swedell@qc.cuny.edu> Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 8:46 AM Subject: Response to EVC Alvero's Statement on Academic Freedom of September 26, 2025 Good morning all, Below please find a statement from CADHE in response to EVC Alvero’s message of 9/26 – which, as noted in my email on 10/3, seems to have not been received by most QC faculty. Please feel free to disseminate – thank you. Larissa From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of Ernest Ialongo <EIALONGO@HOSTOS.CUNY.EDU> Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 7:49 AM Good Morning Colleagues, The CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education (CADHE<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cadhe.commons.gc.cuny.edu/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXOnfl5Z9$>) sent our response to EVC Alvero’s Statement on Academic Freedom this morning to the Chancellery, BOT, UFS Chair, SUNY UFS Chair, and the leaders of the PSC and the AAUP. The full message is below. Sincerely, Ernest Ialongo, on behalf of CADHE Academic Freedom at CUNY: The Latest Challenge A Response to EVC Alvero’s Statement on Academic Freedom by the CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education October 16, 2025 Academic freedom at the City University of New York (CUNY) is again under pressure. A recent statement<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q6hl3bzbw0qdbe1imq18g/CUNY-OAA-Statement-on-Academic-Freedom-p-7-of-email.pdf?rlkey=iom0b8mxk152nkhosiv5xnhba&dl=0__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXNLeElGm$> on academic freedom by Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost Alicia Alvero on September 26 (p. 7 of the statement) states that “Academic freedom is not absolute. In this context, faculty are expected to have classroom discussions that are both relevant to the course subject matter and do not have the effect of being discriminatory or creating a hostile environment for students” (emphasis added). The CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cadhe.commons.gc.cuny.edu/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXOnfl5Z9$> (CADHE) views EVC Alvero’s statement as a dangerous challenge to academic freedom, in that it places an emphasis on the response to academic instruction versus the right of academics to teach their discipline. It distorts the very meaning of academic freedom, as defined by the AAUP<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/aaup-policies-reports/policy-statements/1940-statement-principles-academic__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXINdmZ0-$> and CUNY’s own Manual of General Policy<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://policy.cuny.edu/general-policy/article-i/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXIsvRhzN$>, by recasting academic freedom as negotiable whenever a student, colleague, political actor, or community member feels offended or upset by legitimate course content as defined by its discipline. EVC Alvero’s statement on academic freedom further stands in direct opposition to the rights and protections of faculty as established by court cases involving constitutional law, such as Keyishian v. Board of Regents<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/385/589/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXP5Ie5-3$>, 385 U.S. 589 (1967) and Sweezy v. New Hampshire<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/234/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXAuyuIfQ$>, 354 U.S. 234 (1957). These cases established “the four essential freedoms” of a university: to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study. We are further concerned with another aspect of EVC Alvero’s statement: its emphasis that “academic freedom is not absolute” (emphasis added). Project 2025<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXDf4yWaX$>, a conservative playbook for the remaking of American society, also calls for school policies to “recognize that academic freedom is not absolute.” And, as the New York Times reports<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionaire-marc-rowan-trump-deal-universities.html__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXJrldZc-$>, advisors to the federal government on higher education are now “the backbone of a potentially far-reaching administration effort to tie campus policies to Mr. Trump’s agenda and the federal government’s financial might.” The resulting “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXJwBTyHx$>” makes the offer of substantial federal grants to higher education institutions in return for, among other things, adopting policies recognizing that “academic freedom is not absolute.” With the recent statement by EVC Alvero on academic freedom, we fear that CUNY is capitulating in advance to the conservative attack on higher education. Other statements refuting EVC Alvero’s statement on academic freedom have also been released by the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://psc-cuny.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Some-Truths-About-Academic-Freedom-at-CUNY.pdf__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXLOo8fql$> and Borough of Manhattan Community College<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y4nspn0889umlui2bxbu7/BMCC-Academic-Freedom-Committee-10.1.25.pdf?rlkey=ctwh9i8v5l74jbsnfauhbevea&dl=0__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXOzCfgXY$> academic freedom committees. We strongly endorse these responses. Given the current political climate, representatives of the faculty must resist the politicization and curbing of academic freedom. Academic freedom is at risk around the world<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/free-to-think-reports/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXHjjMrKI$>, and we call on CUNY to respect and actively protect these freedoms, not curtail them. CADHE Organizing Committee Cristina Bruns, LaGuardia Community College Sarah E. Chinn, Hunter College Jonathan Cornick, Queensborough Community College Beth Evans, Brooklyn College Paul Fess, LaGuardia Community College Jean Halley, College of Staten Island Ernest Ialongo, Hostos Community College Karen Kaplowitz, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Joel Kuszai, Queensborough Community College Douglas A. Medina, Guttman Community College Hillary Miller, Queens College Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, Brooklyn College Philip A. Pecorino, Queensborough Community College Larissa Swedell, Queens College Emily Sohmer Tai, Queensborough Community College Karen Weingarten, Queens College Michael W. Yarbrough, John Jay College of Criminal Justice _____________________________________ Dr. Ernest Ialongo Chair, and Professor of History, Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences; Chair, Hostos College-Wide Senate, Hostos Community College The City University of New York 500 Grand Concourse, A-218 Bronx, NY 10451 718-319-7933 https://cuny.academia.edu/ErnestIalongo<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cuny.academia.edu/ErnestIalongo__;!!PxiZbSOawA!KYbadpf4LLEtdH-7yC3MxCKPzA6I5d_5JztizB2LMRojqZHS31NL0iwJqGAUToR4Qe7R4WZbSHwJZWGZSEyA_HoZXGR2H-ZO$> "Ma la vita a New York è estremamente dispendiosa ed ardua. Occorrono nervi d'acciaio, dosi di pazienza all'infinito e MOLTI DOLLARI." Fortunato Depero in New York to F.T. Marinetti, 31 October 1929. *********************************************