Amna Khalid
@AmnaUncensored
Followers
5K
Following
11K
Media
100
Statuses
6K
History prof at Carleton College. Intellectual freedom; free expression. Podcast & blog Banished: https://t.co/1jwocfiPJi; @amnauncensored.bsky.social
Joined March 2021
@HamlineU fired prof for showing medieval Islamic images of Muhammad in class. To help draw even more attn to this case I am sharing a non-paywalled version of my piece (published in CHE today). Pls also sign Chirstiane Gruber’s petition in reply tweet:
41
250
828
1. State institutions used to sort us into racial categories -- now we're doing it for ourselves. See race card in signature below:
41
77
484
An important piece by @conor64 about unis making statements on the Rittenhouse verdict. Regardless of personal view on it, such statements squelch the space for open inquiry on campus — a value that should never be compromised at an academic institution.
16
44
294
"Free & open inquiry inevitably involves conflicting views & strong disagreements. some ideas may be. even harmful. The Uni must not stifle protected expression, permit others to obstruct. such expression, or regulate the tone or content of responses."
5
34
213
For those who call for censorship in the name of 'harm' & 'offense,' the attack on Rushdie should given you reason to pause & reflect on where such arguments lead us. Freedom of expression is the very beating heart of a functioning democracy. Pay heed! .#SalmanRushdieStabbed.
6
41
201
"Americans who say that violent responses to speech are sometimes acceptable. must. [realize] that today’s attack, multiplied thousands of times, is how a society where violence is acceptable protest to speech would actually look." @glukianoff & @rshibley.
1
50
193
Hot off the press my piece on @HamlineU's firing of a professor for showing medieval Islamic images of Muhammad:.cc: @kewhittington @TheFIREorg @glukianoff @HdxAcademy @nickgillespie @NAChristakis @powellnyt @conor64 @kcjohnson9 @VolokhC @razibkhan .
4
59
184
My latest -- The Futility of #TriggerWarnings. cc: @JonHaidt @paytonjjones @EmilyBobrow @nathanfiler @adamfleming @mroth78 @nicolelampert @Toribridgland @BenjaminBellet2 @robkhenderson @sbkaufman @AdamMGrant @DeborahAppleman @katrosenfield @PamelaParesky
8
29
171
No Graham Norton, cancel culture is NOT accountability. You have that very wrong. Re-upping this piece I wrote with @JeffreyASnyder on how censoriousness is on the rise, from the left and the right!.
"In what world are you cancelled? I think the word is the wrong word. I think the word should be accountability.". Graham Norton criticises John Cleese and tells #TimesRadio that cancel culture isn't real. @mariellaf1
15
19
147
My piece on @HamlineU firing prof for showing medieval Islamic images of Muhammad:.@BabaKristian @YasMohammedxx @timurkuran @jon_rauch @AmericanMaghreb @michelleinbklyn @phoebelouise @sapinker @JonHaidt @Elif_Safak @SarahTheHaider @Sturgeons_Law @Razarumi.
6
41
133
At a time when progressives are making a point of decolonizing everything & shunning anything that has imperialist roots, one does wonder why these racial categories don't bother them. In embracing them they are reifying the very order and hierarchies they seek to upend.
7
10
113
Fab. thread on the intellectual bankruptcy of DEI training. Higher ed leaders also pay heed! There's no room for ineffective DEI trainings, esp. on college campuses. They should do what they do best: EDUCATE. My animated video w/ @JeffreyASnyder abt diversity vs ed in reply tweet.
"The average impact of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training is zero and some evidence suggests that the impact can become negative if the training is mandated.". —Roland Fryer (Harvard, Econ) 🧵
4
27
114
“It is profoundly disturbing that some students assert a right to determine what messages are acceptable on a campus and try to deprive others within the community of their right to invite or listen to speakers of their choice.”
6
20
108
1/4 @JeffreyASnyder & I are fellows at the @ucfreespeechctr. Our project:“Anti-CRT Bills Come to Campus: New Threats to Free Expression & Academic Freedom from State Legislatures.” Seeking to interview faculty & admins affected by these laws -- on the record or confidentially. .
8
48
101
@JonHaidt in his must read piece: “When our public square is governed by mob dynamics unrestrained by due process, we don’t get justice & inclusion; we get a society that ignores context, proportionality, mercy & truth.”
3
24
100
2. Classification by race (an inherently oppressive invention with nebulous & shifting boundaries) is a well-known strategy of state control that forms the basis of providing opportunities for some and denying them to others.
1
9
90
It’s astonishing! Just incredible how poorly Hamline University’s admin understands #academicfreedom!.
The president of Hamline University is not backing down at all. She argues it’s not an academic freedom issue, she didn’t fire the professor either.
4
12
96
@JimGrossmanAHA’s letter on behalf of the @AHAhistorians to the president of New College, FL — he pulls no punches and says it as it should be said:
2
28
85
Hot off the press my piece on @HamlineU firing of prof for showing medieval Islamic images of Muhammad:.cc: @Musa_alGharbi @jeremycyoung @Yael_Rice @jflier @JeffreyGoldberg @a_alikazim @QuddusMirza @shahziasikander @CHSommers @AAUP @ACLU @PENamerica.
4
24
95
These developments are chilling! It’s alarming that @HamlineU President @FayneeseMiller thinks that academic freedom ought to be secondary to other concerns. When higher ed leaders are willing to undercut academic freedom we can be certain these are dark times.
2
17
85
Read and sign! “We gave Hamline plenty of time to reverse course but it’s clear they’re not planning to deliver on their academic freedom promises. If Hamline won’t listen to free speech advocates they’ll have to listen to their accreditor.” @TheFIREorg .
1
20
88
My latest "Sisyphus Redux" for @BooksmartSocial -- UW spent $50K to remove a boulder b/c, nearly a century ago, a reporter referred to it using a racial slur. Is this justice or absurdity? cc:@JohnHMcWhorter @Bobosphere @glukianoff @jflier @McCormickProf .
13
24
81
"The more elite the school, the more likely that its students are willing to silence speech. For academically minded schools, this is a complete repudiation of their very mission. But lower-ranked, regional schools are not perfect either." @SamuelAbramsAEI
2
19
81
4. It appears that we have internalized that logic of racial sorting. It is the ultimate triumph of the state when subjects/citizens are self-policing & self-regulating. We no longer resist racial categorization. We seem to go out of our way to embrace it.
1
9
73
This is unbelievable! When presidents of academic professional associations disinvite panelists based on claims of "harm," what does that say about the state of open inquiry? This is AWFUL example to set, and arguably a violation of academic freedom by academics!.
"No sex please, we're anthropologists." Apparently, talk of sex is dangerous & harmful to anthropologists. A panel I was slated to participate in, at the annual meeting of @americananthro, was just cancelled. See the cancellation letter, & our response. 👇🏽 @eweissunburied.
2
17
80
@Musa_alGharbi nails it yet again: "History is full of formerly subaltern groups taking power & proving themselves to be. as depraved as the people they overthrew. And this is the point: People are complicated. Societies, even more so."
4
16
73
My latest w/ @JeffreyASnyder on cancel culture. Thanks to @glukianoff @Komi_Tea @JeffreyASachs @jzfriedman @jon_rauch @Musa_alGharbi @JMchangama @EmilyYoffe @thomaschattwill @nickgillespie @CathyYoung63 @sarahhepola whose work helped us shape this piece: .
9
20
77
“Defending racist, insensitive, or ignorant speech isn’t easy, but it is necessary. The alternative is a university where we are all looking over our shoulders, worrying about whether we said the wrong thing.” Jonathan Zimmerman
13
10
73
@whignewtons: “Our freedom to speak may be more protected by the courts than it has ever been in our country’s history. “Yet our desire to listen to those who have a different view has never been weaker.“
1
7
69
“To impose silence & call it tolerance does not make it so. Real tolerance requires understanding. Understanding comes from listening. Listening presupposes speech.”@JMchangama from his forthcoming book. Reading my advance copy. Highly recommend preordering it!
1
14
71
Like @JohnHMcWhorter's piece: in the Times today? You'll love my conversation with him on how how terms like 'woke,' 'problematic,' & 'cancel culture' have evolved. Subscribe to Banished by @BooksmartSocial & help us spread the word.
2
13
69
Why We Don’t Use Trigger Warnings - An Animated Guide that @JeffreyASnyder & I put together:.cc: @andrewdoyle_com @FreeBlckThought @RichardvReeves @bernybelvedere @CathyYoung63 @CarletonCollege @AbigailShrier @matthewlesh @rkylesmith @NAChristakis .
3
10
70
3. Indeed such categorization has its roots in imperialism -- it was a key strategy of colonial states to objectify, other and control colonial subjects. British India is the example par excellence.
1
6
60
My latest with @JeffreyASnyder; let's face it #academicfreedom isn't always compatible with "inclusion.".cc: @BrianLeiter @BRSoucek @JeffreyASachs @Musa_alGharbi @McCormickProf @jflier @jeremycyoung @PENamerica @jonfreadom @JonHaidt @yakabikaj @shadihamid.
7
20
67
This story that @SnoozyWeiss has covered most expertly chills me to the bone. What is the future of academic freedom in this climate?.
4
10
62
@VolokhC @HamlineU @kewhittington @TheFIREorg @glukianoff @HdxAcademy @nickgillespie @NAChristakis @powellnyt @conor64 @kcjohnson9 @razibkhan Here a paywall-free version:.
4
28
66
@EbooPatel on privileged students protest “where a handful of strident activists effectively silenced a variety of voices in the name of promoting diversity” — a piece worth reading for sure:
4
19
68
“The actions of Hamline University are a threat not just to academic freedom but to religious freedom, too.” @kenanmalik
0
15
64
Admins on steroids:."Students affirmed that at no point did they feel pressured to partake in scavenger hunt or any of its completely voluntary tasks. Nevertheless, Syracuse found Uppal responsible for the charges and suspended her until the '23 summer.".
10
15
70
When rocks are "racist" and spending $50K for their removal is touted as a victory for social justice by institutions of higher ed, at a time when the material deprivation of minorities is palpable, we truly are witnessing the triumph of the absurd.
1
12
61
A new animated explainer video that @JeffreyASnyder & I made - when it comes to DEI & Antiracism on campus don’t mistake training for education . cc: @jordanbpeterson @AFA_Alliance @TheIHS @TheFIREorg @HdxAcademy @FreeBlckThought @fairforall_org .
8
7
52
My conversation with @JohnHMcWhorter is now available on the @HdxAcademy podcast. Take a listen!.
4
8
58
My latest: “The Rushdie Attack Underlines the Value of Teaching Challenging Books” in @timeshighered - PDF in reply tweet. @Olivertraldi @TaraRHenley @katrosenfield @ncacensorship @Rhetors_of_York @FreeBlckThought @FReadomFighters @SarahTheHaider @ACTC5.
1
13
53
A MUST read from Vincent Lloyd: "the implosion of my Telluride seminar suggests that this final step, centering blackness, tempts the US elite & particularly US elite educational institutions, to take a step too far, a step into incoherence—or worse." .
4
12
56
My latest: “The Rushdie Attack Underlines the Value of Teaching Challenging Books” in @timeshighered — PDF in reply tweet. @JoyceCarolOates @MargaretAtwood @PENamerica @AmericanPublish @NAChristakis @ScottJaschik @Thomaschattwill.
5
15
52
@maximromanov @HamlineU @Musa_alGharbi @jeremycyoung @Yael_Rice @jflier @JeffreyGoldberg @a_alikazim @QuddusMirza @shahziasikander @CHSommers @AAUP @ACLU @PENamerica Here is a paywall-free version:.
4
20
52
Komi German & @glukianoff on the undeniable existence of cancel culture in the US -- a well argued and well substantiated must read!.
3
10
52
It’s time to retire trigger warnings. My latest w/ @JeffreyASnyder in @chronicle. cc: @NAChristakis @McCormickProf @aaup @olgakhazan @jflier @JohnHMcWhorter
6
18
47
"The presumption of 'safety' on campus isn’t just annoying in the way that a lot of 'woke' stuff might be. It actually has potentially serious implications for how a new generation thinks about risk." @shadihamid .
1
9
50
Absolutely!.
Whether it's Collin College or Georgetown Law School, it's time for academic administrators to get the memo: Your job is to honor and protect academic freedom, not to police the thought and censor the speech of students and faculty.
0
6
49
"April is the cruellest month, breeding.Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing.Memory and desire, stirring.Dull roots with spring rain.". --T.S, Eliot.
3
10
46
“they aren’t denying the existence of cancel culture because they don’t see it - they are denying it because they still want to keep this weapon & don’t want to feel like bad people for using it.” @SarahTheHaider
1
6
47
This situation w/ the Chinese Cultural Association at GW illustrates the fundamental flaws in using “harm” as a criterion for censoring speech we dislike.
3
14
42
I couldn’t agree more. Utterly appalling. What next? Will they be changing the illustrations too?.
4
5
47
Attn profs a 🧵 on @HamlineU’s attack on #academicfreedom. Below is my piece on the case (this is the paywall free version). See other great coverage in reply tweets & sign the petition to reinstate prof (also in reply tweet). cc: @aaup
4
7
44
Nothing like a lawsuit to make admin do a 180! @Hamline has been compelled to change its position:
3
6
44
Another case of DEI, Inc. undermining free expression on campus -- and yes this does have implications for #academic freedom! Disgraceful!.
With the acquiescence of @StanfordLaw administrators, Stanford law students yesterday shouted down Fifth Circuit judge Stuart Kyle Duncan at a scheduled event on topic of “The Fifth Circuit in Conversation with the Supreme Court: Covid, Guns, and Twitter." 1/.
0
6
45
Absolutely imperative to remember that "not so long ago we didn’t want the art we consumed to be sanitized for us by museum curators, book publishers. or anyone. We pushed for things to widen, not to narrow." @NickClairmont1 @ArcDigi .
2
14
37
Check out this animated explainer that @JeffreyASnyder & I made on why we don’t use trigger warnings:.cc:@nickgillespie, @JillFilipovic, @jflier, @PamelaParesky, @IonaItalia, @DavidLBernstein, @FreemanWSJ, @Yascha_Mounk, @jowilliams293, @DrDebraSoh.
3
13
40
This piece by @raf_walk on cultural appropriation is FABULOUS! “confining scholars to specialties mirroring their identities risks thwarting, instead of advancing, our attempts at diversity & inclusion.”
3
11
41
Spot on!.
Those who might cheer specific edits to Dahl's work should consider how the power to rewrite books might be used in the hands of those who do not share their values and sensibilities. 3/13.
1
5
42
Very well said. Too many ppl are dismissing real self-censorship by conflating it with discretion. The tragedy is that there is real self-censoring on college campuses; & it’s more pervasive than not.
We should probably start to make a distinction between self-censorship, which is refraining from speech due to fear of consequences, and discretion, which is being thoughtful and judicial in one’s speech.
4
8
40
@kenHkolb The emphasis on DEI on campus appears to be blind to how it tokenizes minority faculty and reinforces the very inequities it is supposedly trying to address.
1
1
29
“84% of adults said it is a ‘very serious’ or ‘somewhat serious’ problem that some Americans do not speak freely in everyday situations because of fear of retaliation or harsh criticism.”
3
5
35
“for DeSantis, inducing this sort of fear-driven self-censorship is a feature of his directives, not a bug. It’s surprising, albeit useful, that DeSantis’s own lawyers decided to reveal the truly pernicious nature of this ugly game.” @ThePlumLineGS .
0
22
35
“by turning a bunch of labels into ‘communities’ we are advancing the creation of tribes where none might have existed. By referring to mere traits/hobbies as ‘communities’ we plant the seeds of group consciousness (proto-tribalism)” @SarahTheHaider
1
6
37
This is an alarmingly high rate of adjunctification!.
53.5% of institutions have replaced tenure lines with contingent appointments. When the @usedgov last asked that question in 2004, the number was 17.2%.
2
12
35
"Across America today, the real danger is not the weaponization of free speech—as some like MacKinnon contend—but its suppression by powerful lawmakers and intolerant majorities." @JMchangama & Nadine Strossen:.
1
9
34
"It’s time for writers to remind readers & their 'allies' that offence is like alcohol—intoxicating only if you drink it. Writers cannot be responsible for their readers’ emotions; this requires the ability to mindread." @_HelenDale -- well worth reading!.
1
9
33
@NAChristakis @ABAbook Book banning, once seen as a marker of backward societies that restricted freedom, is fast becoming a value of the American Booksellers Association! We really have hit new lows.
2
4
30
1/2. @JohnHMcWhorter's excellent take on how the "Wisconsin rock episode was a textbook demonstration of the difference between sincere activism & playacting.".
2
6
35
Excellent thread on the implications of what happened at @HamlineU and how to deal with offense in the classroom.
1
10
33
My convo w/ @DorianAbbot just in time for his "cancelled" talk now happening @Princeton. Think cancel culture doesn't exist? Dorian begs to differ. cc: @epkaufm @McCormickProf @LDBurnett @VolokhC @michelleinbklyn @goACTA @sarahemclaugh @Gutkin @ggreenwald @donmoyn @HdxAcademy.
For every one person cancelled, thousands self-censor out of fear. That’s why cancel culture is so nefarious, says Prof. @DorianAbbot, whose @MIT Carlson Lecture was cancelled after he questioned academia's focus on diversity over merit. Hear more at
2
15
32
In the West “moral progress has reached a pt where ppl recognize the sins of the past so the powerful attempt to regain moral authority through performative genuflections to the ‘marginalized’…power rests behind the facade of victimhood.” @SarahTheHaider
1
6
34
My latest blog post on how the cases of @ishapiro & @drphillips2001 throw into sharp relief that academic freedom is under attack from across the political spectrum: . cc: @glukianoff @TheFIREorg @kewhittington @AFA_Alliance @SamuelAbramsAEI @marksjo1 .
2
9
31
“A good university should be a place where ‘divisive concepts’ are freely discussed. If the ideas that emerge are wrongheaded…we make progress by critically examining…them—not by attempting to suppress them.” @kewhittington . via @areomagazine.
9
8
33
I organized a panel discussion on Jan 17 @CarletonCollege on the implication of the @Hamline debacle for teaching. Hamline Rel. Dept Chair Mark Berkson, the wrongly dismissed prof Erika Lopez Prater, Ahoo Najafian (Macalester) & @yakabikaj (UMN) were fab!.
1
5
33
“Higher ed reacted so negatively to the Varsity Blues scandal because it revealed something to the whole world that we’d rather not even recognize to ourselves: privilege laundering schemes are not the exception, they are the rule.” @Musa_alGharbi
1
4
35
In dismissing its professor @HamlineU reinforced ugly stereotypes of Muslims as intolerant, small-minded & provincial. It excluded the views of anybody else —including many Muslims —who might see the world differently from the offended students.” Zimmerman
0
9
35
See the value and worth of #academicfreedom! @HamlineU would do well to recognize that it is the university's sacred responsibility to its students to protect academic freedom.
"Who are you to not allow them?". An Afghan university professor tore up his degrees on TV as he protested the Taliban's ban on female students.
2
5
32
0
2
29
@peterboghossian @maddow @NPR @MSNBC @peterboghossian. -- I'm a history prof at Carleton College. I'd like to have you on my podcast: Banished by @BooksmartSocial. I identify as left of center. You can check out the podcast here: .
0
1
27
“ppl who are ostensibly so cynical abt institutions…then turn around and say ‘the SAT is gone, now fairness and egalitarianism will reign’. It is nonsensical to talk about equality in a process that by its nature is designed to select for a tiny elite!”
0
4
31
"Problematic may show our students and readers how to be—or rather how to sound—righteous. But it does not encourage learning or reflection on how to be right." @tmbejan:.
1
7
29
"The implications of the principle that the Hamline University president has laid down would turn back the clock on liberal arts education in America by more than a century." @kewhittington
1
8
29
A great practical suggestion to help us all push for more viewpoint diversity and genuine inquiry in our world!.
If your kid's school, your college, or your employer assigns one of the books in the left column—and let's face it, they've either done it already or they will—then just politely request that they also assign one of the books in the right column.
1
6
31
@knowwhatisreal @glukianoff Matt I think they key point here is not the numbers (which to my mind are alarming for tenured professors) — but for each case of a prof sanctioned, many others self censoring to avoid the same fate. The cumulative effect on academic freedom is most disturbing indeed.
4
1
31
Delighted that @JMchangama accepted my invitation to visit @CarletonCollege. He placed the current recession of #freespeech in historical & global context. What a treat! If you're concerned about the state of speech on your campus & beyond, invite Jacob!.[photo by Eric Yuan]
2
2
28
@sarahemclaugh spot on: "It’s a comically bad lesson to teach students that they should expect words & images they encounter through the course of their lives to be understood as an exercise of their own consent & not another’s right to free expression."
1
7
30
My latest: Bravo to the faculty at @Hamline & @Macalester for calling out admin encroachment on #academicfreedom: .cc: @CathyWurzer @CathyYoung63 @kcjohnson9 @michelleinbklyn @powellnyt @jackstripling @JillFilipovic @SahanJournal @toddhgreen @glukianoff .
2
10
31
An excellent piece by @Rhetors_of_York on how pedagogical practices of what I call Anti-racism Inc. are deeply flawed and hurt students more than helping them.
3
5
24
My latest in the Chronicle Review. cc: @JonHaidt @Musa_alGharbi @NAChristakis @McCormickProf @Nostra_Duncan .How Students Are Furthering Academe's Corporatization
2
10
28
“Let us by all means confront the flaws and sins of the past. But let’s do it truthfully—and without ignoring the road to the present.” @CathyYoung63 .The Fourth of July, Juneteenth, and the True Legacy of Liberty
0
4
22