Cary Nelson and Abe Socher
Jewish Book Week: Mindless: What Happened to Universities?
How to watch
Summary
In a groundbreaking essay for the Jewish Quarterly, Cary Nelson argues that, in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, universities have been gripped by a toxic and dangerous fervour—a betrayal of the ideals they are meant to uphold. As Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Illinois and former president of the American Association of University Professors, he charts how this crisis has been decades in the making. Author of Hate Speech and Academic Freedom, Nelson joins us online to examine what he sees as profound institutional failures on campuses worldwide and the forces driving them. Learn More
In partnership with the Jewish Literary Foundation and the Jewish Quarterly.
Cary Nelson
Cary Nelson is an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he taught modern poetry. He served for 23 years in the national leadership of the American Association of University Professors, including six years as president. He is the author and editor of 36 books including No University Is an Island and Manifesto of a Tenured Radical.
Abe Socher
Abraham Socher is the editor of the Jewish Review of Books, which he founded in 2010, and professor emeritus of Jewish Studies and Religion at Oberlin College. He is the author, most recently, of a collection of literary essays, Liberal and Illiberal Arts: Essays (Mostly Jewish) (Paul Dry), and the co-editor of Solomon Maimon’s Autobiography (Princeton), which was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award.