Would you sign a letter in my support?

The National Association of Scholars has written a letter addressed to my university and to the Medieval Academy of America asking them, as institutions, to affirm that I remain a scholar in good standing based on my conduct over the past year while under fire from my own colleagues in academia.

The issue is not about politics so much as it is about the culture that we would like to have in academia: whether it is to be a culture in which we support vigorous academic debate or one in which name-calling (“fascist, neo-Nazi, white supremacist”) is going to be allowed to shut down debate. As Milo put it in his coverage of the NAS appeal,

Although universities generally refrain from taking sides in academic debates, the NAS open letter is asking Chicago and the MAA to do something different, and merely affirm that Fulton Brown is an academic in good professional standing who has not harassed or discriminated against her colleagues. This is a matter of historical record, and should not be a challenge for Chicago to do. No one at Chicago need announce themselves on either side of a political or academic debate to clear Fulton Brown of professional wrongdoing and announce its commitment to her freedom of expression in the face of the attacks on freedom of speech she has endured.

To date, we have almost 500 signatures from academic colleagues and Random Laypersons with academic degrees. Would you, dear reader, please add your name to theirs? You can read and sign the National Association of Scholars letter here.

Image credit: Micah Sample

For Milo’s article about why the battle for medieval studies matters for America, go here. 

For my role in MedievalGate, go here. 

For my defense of Milo, go here.