Since August 2024, The University of Alabama has made several decisions that degrade the university experience for many students. These decisions include cutting valuable services provided by the Women’s Resource Center and changing the name of the Center itself, closure of the Black Student Union and Safe Zone offices, and most recently shuttering two student-led publications, Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six. Such decisions remove tangible markers of student representation and violate the University’s core value to provide an undergraduate education “that produces socially conscious, ethical and well-rounded leaders who are grounded in their subject matter and capable of controlling their own destinies”. Recent actions of the University suggest that “social consciousness” is no longer a core value and, perhaps more alarmingly, that it does not support all students’ “controlling their own destinies” by following their interests and talents.
Of immediate concern to faculty is a chronic lack of transparency by The University: no clear grounds for silencing the two student magazines have been provided, leaving the University community to interpret this as an act of anticipatory obedience. It would appear that University Counsel preemptively judged these publications to be discriminatory simply because the publications focus on content of interest to women and African Americans, respectively. The Publishing Industry, especially magazines, target specific audiences: Ebony, Lady’s Home Journal, Vogue, Men’s Health, Sports Illustrated, etc. The closed magazines therefore, represented the industry norm and provided students with valuable “distinctive curricular experiences” cited as a strategic goal in the University’s vision statement.
Despite the University’s official statement that students’ First Amendment rights remain “fully intact,” the First Amendment protects not only Freedom of Speech but also Freedom of the Press, revealing a gross contradiction in the official statement. The offices of these two publications, as well as the opportunities for professional enrichment they provided to students, were always open to all. In addition, both publications had explicit non-discrimination policies for contributors and have historically welcomed contributions from outside of their target audiences. We are greatly concerned that so-called ‘non-discrimination’ laws can all too easily serve as justification for actions motivated by misogyny, racism, or homophobia. The University must protect our students against such harm.
Given the grave threat the University’s recent action poses to Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech, as well as the institution’s stated commitment to provide its students with distinctive and beneficial curricular experiences, the Faculty Senate of The University of Alabama condemns the closure of Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six, demands their immediate reinstatement, and stands ready to work with the administration toward that end.