Statements to Include in Course Syllabi:

Academic Freedom. Free inquiry is essential to a robust learning environment. Faculty and students alike are free to express their viewpoints at appropriate times in class, including perspectives that differ from most in the Rutgers University community. This means that students may be exposed to views they find challenging, uncomfortable, or distressing.

Teaching Philosophy: I believe in a Socratic approach. There will be lectures, but you will learn through conversation and discussion, and by doing the work that reporters do: gathering, sorting through, and judging information; translating that information for various audiences while exploring different styles of news writing.

It is important that students understand that material may delve into issues with which they are uncomfortable, including the various forms of racism, violence, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, abortion rights, and other political topics that divide us but that make up what we see on the news and what we will be expected to report on as journalists. Students are expected to participate, but also to respect all views and all students in the classroom. 

I believe in transparency, so students will always know where I stand on these issues. Not only will no student will be punished for disagreeing with me, but I encourage healthy debate.

Rutgers Statements and Policies on Academic Freedom

• President Holloway, Master Statement (2021)
• Faculty Support Statement (Nov 2023)
• Rutgers Free Expression on Campus Guidelines for students

Digital and Online Safety

• Equality Labs, Anti-Doxing Guide 3.0 (updated as of October 2023).
• PEN America, Online Harassment Field Manual
• Electronic Frontier Foundation, Surveillance Self-Defense
• ACLU, Defend Against Online Doxxing and Harassment

Distinguishing Anti-Semitism from Anti-Zionism

• American Association of University Professors on legislative threats (2022)
• Jewish Voice for Peace on the distinction (Nov 2023)
• Rutgers’ Center for Security, Race and Rights, Presumptively Antisemitic Report (2023)

Islamophobia on Campus

• Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Countering and Dismantling Islamophobia
• Middle East Studies Association, Exposing Canary Mission (2018)

Educating Your Administrators

• Faculty First Responders, Understanding Right-Wing Attacks on Faculty

Legal and Protest Rights

• Palestine Legal, Know Your Rights Student Handbook