Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @NAChristakis I disagree and hold the principled, non selective position on academic freedom, including for lots of things that I don't think are okay. (Communism even!) — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MerkinMuffley5 @ijbailey @NAChristakis Yes. Administrators should stop investigating professors right and left. Better to lay off those administrators and spend the needed money on something other than investigative bureaucracy. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @NAChristakis Yes, but I think it's bad to investigate people when it's clear what the outcome would be because investigations themselves become the punishment. Plus it's just a waste of time when the outcome is clear. In the judicial system it would be a summary judgment — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @NAChristakis You really have a way of giving people's statements that extra twist that goes beyond their expressed meaning and gets it wrong in the process — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @NAChristakis I think exceptionally thoughtful academics come down on both sides of this question and that academic freedom clearly protects their right to do so. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @NAChristakis Actually I didn't say it should be "ignored." I said no investigation is warranted and that I'd offer to facilitate a campus debate on the matter for the students. That's not ignoring them. It is declining to launch an investigation that violates academic freedom. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @NAChristakis "Did they use it as a slur or quote from a historic text?" "The latter." "Okay that's clearly protected by academic freedom so no need to launch an investigation. If you'd like, I'll see if I can get Randall Kennedy and Dr. Mansa come debate if profs should read the word." — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @NAChristakis Yes, I think universities should ignore it when students complain about history or literature professors reading from a commonly used text use a slur that would be bad if they used it as a slur with no academic purpose, because the former is clearly protected by academic freedom — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @NAChristakis It seems like the main objection was to the school launching an investigation, correct? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @mattyglesias: https://t.co/QxPMgDf820 https://t.co/OWd6mpJsAK — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @AdamSerwer: The campaign memo showing Team Trump knew their election conspiracies were false is obviously important for the libel lawsu… — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

One thing I'd like to see is a survey of convicted murderers asking them their explanation for this staggering one year increase. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@GretchenKoch @MaybeItsSteve @rasmansa lol, bizarre? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@contrary1un Yes — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

The new This American Life on the damage and pointlessness of zealotry is just brutal. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

What if thêy or théy was singular and they was plural? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @jadler1969: The Eastman Memo: Poor Lawyering for a Disreputable Cause (Updated) https://t.co/pTEsDWfPW4 via @reason @VolokhC — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Not only that, the way a society avoids the worst authoritarian outcomes is to push back against the logic that leads to them *long before one gets there*, not only after they happen. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe That is, they declared "rigor" and "objectivity" themselves as harmful practices. That's why many are objecting. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe If the Urban Institute had published a piece that merely said what you said--that to be as rigorous as we can be we must constantly look for our own blind spots--no one would have objected. Instead they published this: https://t.co/SuHkjJ9NEd — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe Nothing, I talked to people on both sides and read those essays *because* I care about rigor — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe I don't understand why *meticulousness* or *rigor* are being framed as if they are at all at odds with proper contextualization. Can you explain how you think those things are in tension with one another? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe Also, when it does offer a definition, it urges against following protocol meticulously. I think protocol should be followed meticulously, and that isn't at odds with what the author believes it to be at odds with — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe I find the statement illogical and grounded in a pseudo-definition of rigor, not an actual definition. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe Let's begin with rigor, "the quality of being extremely thorough and careful" or "the quality of being detailed, careful, and complete." I think it should be a lodestar for all researchers. That piece says otherwise. Who do you agree with? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@1xaipe What do you mean it says nothing remotely controversial? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@michelleinbklyn @thomaschattwill Of course, that's narrowly focused on the question of *is the phenomenon undermining the ability of academia to achieve its missions of truth-seeking and civic acculturation* and the issue is broader than that. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@michelleinbklyn @thomaschattwill If there's a major university where most professors feel comfortable voicing their opinions on this matter instead of engaging in preference falsification I haven't found it, but I hope it's out there. One way to quantify the problem is, How many such institutions can one name? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@amandamull @edyong209 *FADE IN Rarotonga, Cook Islands* AM: Finally, a place where I no longer have to write about–– The Rock: Amanda? AM: Who's asking? The Rock: There's a story. AM: I'm not interested. The Rock: Only you can write it. AM: I'M NOT–– The Rock: I have a note here from Ed Yong — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@JPober I don't "hedge" my critique of the far right at all. I do think the illiberal left is more of a concern than you do. And I don't see why that's the main thing everyone wants to argue about. — PolitiTweet.org