I’m Following This NY Times Opinion Piece, “More on the Firing of That N.Y.U. Professor” Whose Class Was Regarded Too Tough to Pass by Some Students

I’ve had a similar experience though mine was feloniously orchestrated by Hunter’s 17th Floor,* the Dean’s office and colleagues in my department encouraging students to file a phony complaint.**

Picture: Janice Chung for The New York Times

NY Times’ Opinion Piece by Columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom

The New York Times reported on the firing of an N.Y.U. professor, Maitland Jones Jr., this week. It set my corner of discourse ablaze. I encourage you to read about it. Depending on your perspective, this is a story about snowflakes run amok, the decline of Western education or the intolerance of hypercompetitive academics.

As a professor, I read it as a routine bureaucratic affair. That perspective may be helpful to you in understanding how this slice of academic life rises to the level of social problem.

Jones taught organic chemistry as a contingent (or adjunct) faculty member at a private university. The majority of higher education professors are now contingent, meaning that they do not get the…