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Articles by Jonathan Zimmerman
Let’s Call a Truce Between Universities and the Trump Administration
On Monday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon published “A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards.” Following up on reports about declining trust in American universities and colleges, Secretary McMahon’s letter asked universities to “reaffirm their commitment to serving the American people.” As the Secretary warned, “higher education has drifted from the principles that built up so much public esteem” in the past. We agree with her.
Commentary: What the New Republic got right
The University of Pennsylvania is hostile to free expression. It has imposed a series of new speech restrictions, especially upon critics of Israel. The campus is eerily silent, even as Israel attacks Lebanon and the United States bombs Iran. That's the theme of an excellent piece published in May in The New Republic by journalist Jordan Heller. Caving to conservative donors and Penn alum Donald Trump, the university has targeted anti-Israel faculty members and students.
Opinion - When students spoke up for academic freedom
Academic freedom is dead. Long live academic freedom. That was the theme of a mock funeral held this month in Lubbock, where black-clad mourners marched alongside a horse-drawn carriage. It bore an urn carrying the symbolic remains of academic freedom at Texas Tech, which has closed academic programs centered on gender identity and has even prohibited some student research about it.
Our Childish Debate over Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. Stop sullying his reputation with unproven charges of sexual abuse! Michael Jackson molested children. Stop listening to his music! Welcome to the debate—such as it is—over Jackson, who is the subject of a new movie that set box office records last weekend. Nobody contests Jackson’s incandescent talent or his influence on popular culture. But we can’t seem to agree on how we should address the ugly parts of his past.
Don't Shut Down Free Speech in Charlie Kirk's Name
Charlie Kirk championed free speech as a fundamental American value. So, it’s sad—and ironic—that the murder of the 31-year-old conservative activist has triggered a fresh round of censorship, alarmingly aimed at teachers and other government employees. Educators in a dozen states have been fired or placed on leave for online statements that criticized Kirk or expressed approval of his death.
Opinion - Naomi Osaka’s misplay on race
Opinion Jonathan Zimmerman, opinion contributor Tue, September 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM UTC 5 min read I have always liked Naomi Osaka. The tennis star is creative on the court and candid in interviews, especially about her mental-health challenges. I was disappointed when she lost last week in the U.S. Open to Amanda Anisimova, who was defeated in the final on Saturday by Aryna Sabalenka. But I also think Osaka was dead wrong in her remarks at the tournament about racism.
Academic Freedom: How Universities Lost Their Way
We’ve got this, say some colleges and universities. Yes, we’re cutting deals with Donald Trump’s administration. But we are also preserving our core value: academic freedom. We’ll be OK. That’s what Columbia University declared last month, when it agreed to pay the administration $200 million for allegedly failing to protect students from antisemitic harassment. And it’s what Harvard said last week, when it canceled a journal’s special issue devoted to education in Palestine. Don’t believe them.
Opinion - What Gettysburg teaches us about Ukraine and America
Last week, President Trump told a series of outrageous lies about Ukraine — that it started its war with Russia (Russia actually invaded Ukraine), that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator (not Russian strongman Vladimir Putin) whose approval rating stood at 4 percent (it’s over 50 percent, which is higher than Trump’s rating). Trump also said battlefield photographs of the war in the Ukraine reminded him of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Don't shut down debate about Israel and antisemitism
I was a professor for 20 years at New York University, which has campuses around the world. I taught at NYU's Shanghai; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Accra, Ghana; and Tel Aviv, Israel, campuses. Guess which one student protesters want to shut down?
What To Know About IRS' New Jet Use Audit Campaign
ADVERTISEMENT Don't want ads? Subscribe or login now. By Mary Hevener, Steven Johnson and Jonathan Zimmerman (March 29, 2024, 6:17 PM EDT) -- The Internal Revenue Service recently launched a new audit campaign initiative that will focus on executives' personal travel on company-provided aircraft. Companies with high visibility or generous corporate aviation programs should prepare now....
What To Know About IRS' New Jet Use Audit Campaign
ADVERTISEMENT Don't want ads? Subscribe or login now. By Mary Hevener, Steven Johnson and Jonathan Zimmerman (March 29, 2024, 6:17 PM EDT) -- The Internal Revenue Service recently launched a new audit campaign initiative that will focus on executives' personal travel on company-provided aircraft. Companies with high visibility or generous corporate aviation programs should prepare now....
Joe Gow should be a professor, not a chancellor (opinion)
You have /5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in. pseudopixels/Getty Images Over the past two decades, I’ve been invited to interview for deanships at several different institutions. Each time, the feedback has been the same: nice guy, but not our guy. Too outspoken, too opinionated, too “out-there.” He’d be a good faculty member, the reviews said, but he’s not dean material. Fair enough.
Canceling Liz Magill Will Be Bad News for Free Speech
In 2021, after Harvard dropped her from an advisory committee, Representative Elise Stefanik gave an interview decrying “cancel culture” on American campuses. “This is how cancel culture works,” the New York Republican complained, noting that she had been the only Trump supporter on the committee.
Commentary: Do meaningful coincidences exist? Here’s what lunch with a friend taught me
The Chinese have an expression that I’ve always liked: “No coincidence, no story.” A story should contain some kind of strange or unexpected twist; if it doesn’t, it’s not much of a story. Here’s mine. A month ago, I surprised my friend Pete at the hospital where he was getting his last set of infusions to treat leukemia. He had received them every six weeks for the past five years.
Commentary: Do Meaningful Coincidences Exist? Here’s What Lunch With A Friend Taught Me - Chicago Tribune
The Chinese have an expression that I’ve always liked: “No coincidence, no story.” A story should contain some kind of strange or unexpected twist; if it doesn’t, it’s not much of a story. Here’s mine. A month ago, I surprised my friend Pete at the hospital where he was getting his last set of infusions to treat leukemia. He had received them every six weeks for the past five years. That’s after two bone marrow transplants (the first one didn’t
Commentary: Do meaningful coincidences exist? Here’s what lunch with a friend taught me
The Chinese have an expression that I’ve always liked: “No coincidence, no story.” A story should contain some kind of strange or unexpected twist; if it doesn’t, it’s not much of a story. Here’s mine. A month ago, I surprised my friend Pete at the hospital where he was getting his last set of infusions to treat leukemia. He had received them every six weeks for the past five years.
Episode 43: Stop Disparaging Working-Class Students
Heterodox Out Loud Episode 43: Stop Disparaging Working-Class Students July 21, 2022 Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Email | RSS In this episode of Heterodox Out Loud, Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, speaks with host Zach Rausch about why social class is one of the last acceptable prejudices in many academic circles — and what we can do about it.
Commentary: Sha’Carri Richardson Olympic treatment ridiculous, but is it racist? No.
Commentary: Sha’Carri Richardson Olympic treatment ridiculous, but is it racist? No. Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates winning the Women’s 100 Meter final on day two of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19 in Eugene, Oregon. Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America/TNS Jonathan Zimmerman The Baltimore Sun I have a new favorite athlete: Sha’Carri Richardson. She is outspoken, stylish and lightning fast.
Race, Free Speech, and the Purge of Campus Blasphemers
At a New York City college, a professor is dismissed shortly after using the N-word in an academic discussion of Mark Twain. June 1, 2021 | 1:30 PM A few years ago, while writing a book about college teaching, I asked several colleagues to list the qualities of a good teacher. Many people replied that the best instructors were “reflexive”: they constantly examined their own practices and encouraged students to do the same.
Why Free Speech? - Heterodox Academy
Jonathan Zimmerman May 17, 2021 Illustration by Signe Wilkinson Why another book on free speech? And what’s with the cartoons? I’ve been asked these questions many times in the weeks since the publication of my new book, Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn (City of Light Press, 2021), which is illustrated by cartoonist Signe Wilkinson. And the best way to answer is with a story that appears in the book’s opening pages.
Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn
$19.95 Written by Jonathan Zimmerman, with cartoons by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson. Across the political spectrum, Americans have demanded the suppression of ideas and images that allegedly threaten our nation. But the biggest danger to America comes not from speech but from censorship, which prevents us from freely governing ourselves.
Opinion | When Will Liberals Reclaim Free Speech?
That’s because my fellow liberals have largely abandoned free speech to conservatives. Turn on Fox News, and you’ll see “cancel culture” decried in bright lights. But in the liberal press—and most of all in the liberal academy—free speech has become a rhetorical third rail. Sure, we’ll invoke it when Republican state lawmakers try to ban critical race theory. But in our own house, free speech is seen increasingly as a tool of repression rather than liberation.
The New York Times and Modern Blasphemy
The Donald McNeil controversy has long roots. A historian of free speech explains. February 10, 2021 | 5:00 AM nrkbeta/Flickr New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet In Monty Python’s classic 1979 satirical film about Jesus, Life of Brian, a man is stoned for saying a blasphemous word. One of his accusers says the word, too, and the crowd turns on him. Then an elderly authority declares that nobody should ever say the word, but of course he says it as well. And he gets stoned, too.
Impeach Trump But Not for What He Said on January 6th
It’s chilling when my fellow liberals like Nancy Pelosi start talking about “incitement of insurrection,” a charge that’s been used against the Left and doesn’t apply here. January 15, 2021 | 3:59 PM Donald Trump speaks at "Stop the Steal" rally, January 6, 2020 Donald Trump was impeached on Wednesday for the second time, and rightfully so.
The Chaos Is The Point
What motivates Trump followers? Racism? Conservatism? Cruelty? Part of it may be simple disruption. A historian explains. October 19, 2020 | 2:27 PM Gage Skidmore/Flickr Like many liberals, I’ve been struggling to understand why millions of Americans continue to back President Trump. Just as rain and snow couldn’t stall the Pony Express, it seems, neither coronavirus nor recession have cut into Trump’s base of support. Why not?
Princeton, Betsy DeVos, And The Need For a Real Debate About Race
I don’t want Betsy DeVos telling Princeton what to say about racism. But I also don’t want our universities to squelch discussion. October 5, 2020 Can we talk about racism at our colleges and universities? I mean, really talk. Not gesture or pantomime, which too often passes for dialogue in this realm. Can we engage in a full and free exchange of ideas, where people actually say what they think and think what they say?
Poway shooting: When a white American attacks, call it by its true name: Terrorism.
When a shooter killed one and injured three others at a synagogue in Poway, California, President Donald Trump called the act a “hate crime.” So did Poway Mayor Steve Vaus and other commentators, highlighting the accused gunman’s racist and anti-Semitic posts on social media. But the rabbi of the Poway synagogue used a different set of words to describe the tragedy.
Poway shooting: When a white American attacks, call it by its true name: Terrorism.
When a shooter killed one and injured three others at a synagogue in Poway, California, President Donald Trump called the act a “hate crime.” So did Poway Mayor Steve Vaus and other commentators, highlighting the accused gunman’s racist and anti-Semitic posts on social media. But the rabbi of the Poway synagogue used a different set of words to describe the tragedy.
Op-ed: Don’t spy on our teachers
Last month, after school started, a New Mexico teacher was caught in an audio recording denouncing President Trump in class. "If you have a history teacher teaching you that Trump is good, then I feel really scared for you," the teacher said, in response to a 10th grader's question. The school district's superintendent said he was "very concerned" about the teacher's comments, but he had "no problem" with students secretly recording her. I've got a problem with both.
Bryn Mawr wrong to cleanse some references to former president | Opinion
As you might guess from my last name, I’m Jewish. And, like every other Jew I know, I was angered and alarmed by the violent display of anti-Semitism recently in Charlottesville, Va. So you might also guess that I was gratified to see Bryn Mawr College scrub its website of some references to its best-known president, M. Carey Thomas, who was a racist as well as an anti-Semite.
Derek Walcott's sexual harassment problem, and ours
In 2009, the Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott withdrew his name from consideration for the honorary position of professor of poetry at Oxford University. The professorship went instead to Ruth Padel, who had tipped off reporters to charges that Walcott sexually harassed a student more than three decades earlier. Roundly condemned for submarining her rival, Padel resigned just nine days into her tenure.
Essay: Trump opponents must not fall into the bipartisan BS game
President Donald J. Trump has investments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. That's why they weren't part of his immigration order, which barred people from seven Middle Eastern countries where he doesn't conduct business. Right? Not necessarily. Wrong? Not necessarily, either. This claim falls under a special third category, which Trump himself has turned into an art. It's called BS. That's an abbreviation, of course; you know the long form.
Essay: Trump, the CIA, and the historical fallacy
Donald Trump is correct: The American intelligence community misled us about Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction. So that means it's also mistaken about Russian cyberattacks on the United States. Right? Wrong. On New Year's Eve, Trump called the Central Intelligence Agency's claims about WMD a "disaster" — his signature slur — and implied that the agency was fibbing again.
Op-ed: The Drexel tweet storm and America's ugly political atmosphere
Let's get a few things straight from the start. Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher had every right to tweet out his tongue-in-cheek salute to "white genocide" on Christmas Eve. And Drexel was wrong to condemn him in a press release the next morning, which ignored the obvious satire of his remark. But Ciccariello-Maher was wrong, too, to link his critics to genocide. That simply feeds the polarized, take-no-prisoners spirit of our contemporary political moment.
Letter: Trump must condemn campus attacks so we can move across political divide
Dear President-elect Trump: I am writing to urge you to denounce the recent racist attacks at your alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and on other campuses around the country. I know that you disavowed white nationalists during your interview last Tuesday at the New York Times. But our students need something more. And they're unlikely to get it from the open letter that my Penn colleagues sent to you on Nov. 11.
Is Ted Cruz a 'natural born citizen'? I don't care, and neither should you
Thanks to Donald Trump, we have a new birther debate! I'm not talking about President Obama, who had to produce his Hawaii birth certificate a few years ago in response to suggestions by Trump and others that he was born outside the United States. I'm talking about Ted Cruz, who really was born outside of the United States. And to Trump, that means Cruz might not be eligible to be president. Trump raised the issue again at the Republican presidential debate on Jan.
Caitlyn Jenner and the perils of celebrity
A tough-guy hero announces that she has become a woman. Media outlets run glamorous pictures of her, while thousands of admirers send in their congratulations. Reporters query her family members, who express their support as well. The nation is transfixed by the transgendered celebrity in its midst. Caitlyn Jenner, this summer? No, Christine Jorgensen, in 1952.
How Presidents’ Day went from patriotism to commercialism
Here’s the first thing you need to know about Presidents’ Day: there's no national holiday of that name. Under federal law, it’s still known as Washington’s Birthday. But it’s not celebrated on February 22, the day our first president was born. And that’s all because of the Benjamins. Not Benjamin Harrison, one of our least distinguished presidents. And not Benjamin Franklin, who wasn’t president at all. No, Presidents’ Day now exists to promote . . . . shopping.
Why does every president need a presidential library?
In 1971, two years after leaving the White House, Lyndon Johnson dedicated his sleek, windowless eight-story presidential library at the University of Texas. But on the pages of the Washington Post, cartoonist Herblock depicted Johnson as an Egyptian pharaoh opening “the Great Pyramid of Austin.” That’s a perfect metaphor for presidential libraries, which memorialize our our leaders—and their often-monumental egos—in brick, cement, and stone.
How Hanukkah made Jews American
“Merry Christmas . . . and Happy Hanukkah.” Wherever I go this time of year—the subways, the streets, and especially the stores—I hear that phrase. And it’s music to my ears, even when I detest the tacky holiday music that so often accompanies it. That’s because Hanukkah is now a part of America. Indeed, Jews seized upon this holiday of miracles in order to read themselves into the American story. And that makes for a pretty miraculous story, in and of itself.
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