Public Statements

The SCS Board of Directors has endorsed the ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) Statement on the Effort to Undermine Academic Freedom in House Bill 999.

You can read the statement and the list of signatories online at https://www.acls.org/news/the-effort-to-undermine-academic-freedom-in-f…

The text of the ACLS Statement is below:

The Effort to Undermine Academic Freedom in Florida House Bill 999

Published: March 3, 2023

The Board of Directors of the Society for Classical Studies has joined 39 other organizations, and hundreds of individuals, in endorsing the Statement in Support of Academic Freedom and the New College of Florida, issued by the American Council of Learned Societies.

You can read the statement below, and view the Statement on the ACLS website with the full list of signatories.

Over the summer, the SCS Board of Directors has had several discussions about the 2023 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. These deliberations echoed all the concerns that the Board has heard from members via two annual meeting surveys, email correspondence, and social media. We realize many will opt to participate virtually because of financial constraints, health concerns, and potential travel disruptions. We further share the outrage of many members about the assaults on reproductive justice, and racial and gender equity, in Louisiana and other states.

Since issues pertaining to social media continue to arise, the Society for Classical Studies wishes as a supplement to its earlier statement to caution its members and the members of its various affiliated organizations that they should take great care before making allegations on matters of fact about members of the scholarly community or repeating such assertions in their own media posts. Strong criticism is protected by academic freedom, but falsehood is not.

The SCS Board of Directors has co-signed the following statement, which has been authored jointly by the American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association, the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and PEN America. As of June 16, 2021, 80 organizations have endorsed the statement.

You can read the full text and list of signatories below and read the press release by the American Historical Association here.

June 16, 2021

The SCS, consistent with its Statement on Professional Ethics, which addresses discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identity, stands fully in support of transgender classicists. It condemms any harassment and bullying of anyone who is transgender or who advocates for transgender rights.

approved by the SCS Board, 4/30/21

Howard University is the only HBCU in the United States with a Classics Department, which has been a part of the institution since its inception in 1867. SCS has recently received the following news from the Department:

The Executive Committee of the SCS has issued the following statement:

For several years, serious issues have arisen concerning online communications within the classics community. The SCS reminds its members to respect the dignity of one another in professional and private communications. These communications include, inter alia, social media posts and direct messages, private emails, and messages posted to email listservs. In view of these concerns the SCS Professional Matters Division is preparing guidelines for social media and other online communications.

Academic freedom and tenure are of fundamental importance, indeed the basis upon which America has achieved pre-eminence in higher education. Without its protections, faculty are at constant risk of arbitrary termination, with chilling and destructive effects on their ability to conduct groundbreaking research and provide state-of-the-art teaching.