BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), will speak to Illinois Wesleyan faculty and staff Thursday, Oct. 21.
His talk on “The Future of Higher Education,” which is free and open to the public, will be at 4 p.m. in room C101 of the Center for Natural Science (201 Beecher St., Bloomington).
Nelson’s visit is at the request of Joerg Tiede, IWU associate professor of computer science and president of the school’s AAUP chapter. Nelson will discuss the importance of preserving academic freedom in American universities, the central point of his latest book No University is an Island (NYU Press).
Nelson highlights trends in higher education such as a lack of tenure-track professorships and diminished faculty governance over areas such as curriculum. He believes these changes are damaging to academic excellence.