Roger Bowen has just been appointed as the AAUP's new general secretary, effective next summer.
Bowen became infamous when he refused to censor a controversial conference in 1997 as president of the State University of New York at New Paltz. He gave a great speech about this:
http://www.chronogram.com/backIssues/2001/november/room1.htm

See SUNY Chancellor John Ryan's despicable claim that Bowen should have dictated what could and could not be said at the conference:
http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol29/vol29n18/n3.html

After Ryan, Republican politicians, and trustee Candace deRussy finally forced out Bowen in 2001, the right-wing has essentially blacklisted him from academia. After working as head of a museum in Milwaukee, Bowen quit to seek out a presidency. Instead, he'll be taking charge of the AAUP, and he should make a welcome addition to its work.

www.aaup.org

John Wilson
www.collegefreedom.org