The Academic Freedom Alliance released a statement regarding the decision of New York University not to renew the contract of organic chemistry professor Maitland Jones.
Professor Jones retired from Princeton University after a celebrated career as both a scholar and a teacher. For the past few years he has continued to teach organic chemistry at New York University. Like many contingent faculty, he has worked on short-term contracts.
Organic chemistry has long been understood to be a gateway course for medical school and advanced study in chemistry. Those courses have long been regarded as among the most difficult courses offered at many universities and have traditionally been graded accordingly.
