A PhD student in philosophy writes:
I’ve been following your blog posts about the Synthese matter and the Labor Studies business at the University of Missouri. I signed the petition about Synthese and wrote a letter to the UM chancellor and dean, and I appreciate your work on making these travesties known so that I could take some action.
Although I’m glad I acted in both cases, I was wondering about your take on whether graduate students should, in general, take public stances on issues like these. Basically, I’m worried that they might affect job prospects. Since I work on philosophy of math, logic, and language, Synthese would generally be a natural place for me to publish. Similarly, it’s possible that I eventually get a job interview at Missouri. In both cases, I’m worried that taking a public stance on the issues in question might jeopardize possible publication/job opportunities. More generally, I’m worried that graduate students may not want to take action because of concerns like mine.
So, I’m writing to ask about your thought on this issue: does taking public or semi-public action on these kinds of issues have a serious prospect of affecting a graduate student’s career?
I think these are reasonable concerns. My own take is that the risk is directly proportional to how controversial the matter is. Signing the petition to the Synthese EICs or e-mailing in support of the Missouri teachers targetted by Breitbart are not very controversial moves: even those who didn't sign the petition recognized it as a reasonable gesture, and a smear merchant like Breitbart has no academic constituency, and the University of Missouri appears to be on the side of at least one of the two instructors (one resigned, under circumstances that remain a bit unclear). But taking a public stand on more controversial issues may, of course, pose professional risks. Sometimes one should take those risks, sometimes not, but I couldn't formulate a general rule or principle for telling the cases apart. Thoughts from readers? Signed comments strongly preferred, as usual.
