Dive Summary:
- In a letter addressed to New York University officials in Florence, Italy, and on its New York City campus, the American Association of University Professors chastised the school for its treatment of the Italian campus faculty.
- NYU allegedly terminated three longtime studio-arts professors and abruptly cut adjunct professors' pay as a result of their attempts to form a faculty union on the Florence campus, a move that would throw its commitment to academic freedom and shared faculty governance into question.
- The blog NYU Local claims the changes on the Florence campus were due to a plan to shift the campus away from the arts to political science, but Ellyn Toscano, the Florence campus' executive director, disputes those claims, saying no such plans existed.
From the article:
The American Association of University Professors has sharply criticized New York University’s treatment of faculty members on its campus in Florence, Italy, declaring that adjunct professors there saw abrupt pay cuts and three longtime studio-arts professors were terminated, allegedly for trying to help form a faculty union. ...