Dive Summary:
- A packed Florida Atlantic University Faculty Senate meeting Friday revealed a faculty committee's preliminary findings that the banning of the controversial "Jesus-stomping" classroom exercise compromised academic freedom.
- FAU President Mary Jane Saunders and Provost Brenda Claiborne, who banned the exercise from the curriculum without consulting faculty, were in attendance and spoke in support of academic freedom, but wouldn't answer specific questions about the exercise or suspended instructor, Dr. Deandre Poole.
- The controversy stems from an Intercultural Communications class taught by Poole in February, in which the instructor used an exercise from a popular textbook in which students write "Jesus" on a piece of paper and stomp on it to demonstrate the power of words as symbols.
From the article:
... “The committee’s preliminary finding is that there are are sufficient grounds for concluding that academic freedom has been compromised. Due diligence requires additional time for the faculty to gather and process all the pertinent facts prior to submitting a final report,” said a statement read at Friday’s Senate meeting. ...