AAUP Report: Academic Freedom Violations at LSU
A new AAUP report finds violations of academic freedom in two cases at Louisiana’s flagship public institution, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The cases were investigated and the report written by a committee of AAUP members. The subject of the first case is Ivor van Heerden, a researcher serving since 1992 in a non-tenure-track appointment. For years, his work in coastal erosion and in hurricane- and flood-related issues brought him public prominence and consistently favorable evaluations. The attitude of LSU administrators quickly changed, however, after van Heerden found that a main cause of flooding after Hurricane Katrina was structural failure of the levees overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Administrators, anticipating cooperation and support from the Corps in hurricane recovery projects, did not appreciate being linked in the media with these findings. They took steps to restrain van Heerden’s public activities, to distance LSU from those activities,