Higher Ed Law Prof Blog

As Disney tries to intimidate U. of Washington, recalling other such acts of intimidation - #2

In 1998 Beverly Enterprises sued Cornell's Kate Bronfenbrenner over an artilce impugning Beverly's labor relations history.Bronfenbrenner Slap Suite

As Disney tries to intimidate U. of Washington, recalling other such acts of intimidation - #1

From the Chronicle of Higher Education dated September 7, 2001:

Professors Settle Suit With U. of Denver Over Retracted Article

By PETER MONAGHAN

Two business professors at Boise State University and an environmental activist have reached a settlement with the University of Denver, which they sued for defamation last year after the university retracted an article they had published in its law journal. Under the deal, Denver will apologize to the authors and pay them an undisclosed amount.

The dispute involved an article in the spring 1998 issue of the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy. The article, by William A. Wines, a professor of legal environment and business ethics at Boise State; Mark A. Buchanan, an associate professor of law there; and Donald J. Smith, the Idaho field representative of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, was titled "The Critical Need for Law Reform to Regulate the Abusive Practices of Transnational Corporations: The Illustrative Case of Boise Cascade Corporation in Mexico's Costa Grande and Elsewhere" (The Chronicle, December 8, 2000).

The authors wrote that some multinational corporations, particularly Boise Cascade, had committed environmental abuses and had contributed to civil unrest in Mexico that had resulted in human-rights abuses. Boise Cascade has denied the allegations.

In October 1999, the University of Denver, after being contacted by Boise Cascade, "withdrew" the article -- without contacting the authors -- and directed the two major electronic legal-text providers -- Lexis and Westlaw -- to remove it from online access.

University of Washington backs faculty, rebuffs Disney

According to today's Chronicle of Higher Education, the president of the University of Washington politely declined Disney's request to retract a press release reporting the results of faculty research, published in The Journal of Pediatrics. Says the Chronicle, the study documents evidence that infants who watched baby DVDs and videos, e.g., Disney's Baby Einstein productions, ended up with smaller vocabularies than bambinos who were not exposed to the materials.

If Disney follows up the letter with a lawsuit, it will be just the latest example of so-called "slap suits," a strategy pursued by some corporations at least since the late nineties, aimed at chilling academic freeedom and free speech in the academy. See Jim Castagnera, The Role of Higher Education in the 21st Century (Change Magazine 2002)

Cuomo fires another volley at higher ed

Yesterday some of the nation's top providers of study-abroad programming received subpoenas from New York's activist AG, including Butler University's Institute for Study Abroad and the Institute for International Education of Students (IIES). According to the New York Times page-one story on Monday, other targets are the Center for Education Abroad at Arcadia University, the American Institute for Foreign Study, and the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, affiliated with the University of Copenhagen.

NAFSA ESTABLISHES TASK FORCE IN FACE OF PENDING STUDY ABROAD SCANDAL

NAFSA to Establish Study Abroad Task Force
From NAFSA.news Vol. 12, No. 29
August 15, 2007

NAFSA today issued a press release establishing a new study abroad task force. NAFSA has been in contact with Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), and Mary Dwyer, chair of the board of The Forum on Education Abroad, to ensure that the initiatives of the various associations are coordinated.

Study Abroad next on prosecutors' hit list?

If the page one story in Monday's New York Times is accurate, then study-abroad directors may be the next targets of the Andy Cuomos who are out gunning for higher education.New York Times

Blogger asks questions about dean's indictment

If you have been following the story of the indictment of a dean with regard to a fraternity party that resulted in a fatality, here are some good questions from a thoughtful blogger.Hank Nuwer blog