President Hurley rescinds teaching invitation: Here’s what we know so far

The Canisius College chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released a statement on Sept. 27 detailing an incident that involves an international scholar who was invited to teach at Daemen College, as well as at Canisius.

According to the statement, the unnamed scholar was invited to teach at both of the colleges and was partially supported by a foundation. Two members of the foundation — neither employed by Daemon or Canisius — then found a post on the scholar’s personal facebook account that they did not agree with.

One of the individuals wrote a personal complaint to President John Hurley, urging him to rescind the scholar’s invitation to teach.

This individual was deemed most qualified for the position by experts in the field; however, Hurley allegedly chose to rescind the invitation anyway.

The statement said: “Those who wish to fire faculty because of ideas with which they personally disagree misunderstand the purpose of a university and indeed of education itself. Education is not indoctrination.”

The statement also spoke to the logistics of hiring professors. It noted that the hiring of professors should come from primarily the faculty, not administration. The statement also argued that the unilateral decision to remove this scholar's appointment was a violation of shared governance.

“It is harmful to principles of academic freedom for an administration to withdraw a proffered appointment because of a professor's extramural speech,” the statement said.

Due to all of this information, the AAUP rejected Hurley’s alleged action and the statement called for an immediate reversal. According to the AAUP, the decision “manifests a blatant disregard for widely accepted principles of free speech, academic freedom and shared governance.”

President Hurley’s office declined to comment on the current situation.