NEW YORK—The launch of a new website meant to name and accuse college professors of advancing left-wing agenda and discriminating against conservative students is a worrying threat to academic freedom and freedom of expression on college campuses, PEN America said in a statement.
The website, called Professor Watchlist, was launched Monday November 23 by Turning Points USA, and has accused almost 200 college professors of using their positions to ” advance a radical agenda in lecture halls,” and includes academics and professors from across the country.
“While no credible university administrator will take seriously a website so clearly intended to bait and sow divisions on college campuses,” said Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN America. “PEN America condemns the so-called “Professor Watchlist.” While claiming to stand up against bias, this list is a noxious purveyor of precisely what it claims to deride: the intimidation and osctracization of those who express controversial views on campus.”
This list is another in a series of attempts made by some groups, such as the Canary Mission, and others, to hamper or intimidate free speech on college campuses. Attempts such as these were covered extensively in PEN America’s And Campus for All: Diversity, Inclusion and Free Speech at American Universities report.
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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at PEN.org.