Michael Rectenwald
Michael Rectenwald | |
---|---|
Born | January 29, 1959 |
Occupations |
|
Political party | Libertarian |
Academic background | |
Education | University of Pittsburgh (BA) Case Western Reserve University (MA) Carnegie Mellon University (PhD) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | |
Main interests | Secularism |
Michael D. Rectenwald (born January 29, 1959)[citation needed] is an American author and former professor. He has written about 19th-century British secularism and is a critic of the contemporary social justice movement.
Early life and education
Rectenwald's 2018 memoir states that he is the seventh of nine children.[1]
Rectenwald is a 1977 graduate of
Career
Rectenwald was a Professor of Liberal and Global Liberal Studies at New York University for more than ten years before retiring in January 2019.[5]
On September 12, 2016, Rectenwald created the anonymous Twitter account @antipcnyuprof, tweeting on the topic of social justice ideology on North American colleges and universities. A student reporter for the Washington Square News, New York University's weekly student newspaper, discovered him; he subsequently gave an interview revealing himself as the faculty member behind the account.[6]
In a November 3, 2016 Washington Post op-ed, Rectenwald claimed that two days after the student interview, he was summoned by NYU Liberal Studies Dean Fred Schwarzbach and was "strongly encouraged to take a paid leave of absence."[7] Schwarzbach denied Rectenwald's claims and posted all email correspondence between the two from November 1 through November 11, which showed Rectenwald requesting the leave himself.[8] Rectenwald went on paid leave in September 2016. In January 2018, he sued NYU and four of its professors for defamation "after they sent accurate emails accusing him of behavior including sexism, bullying, drug use, abusing his position as chair of a hiring committee, and physical and sexual harassment". The case was dismissed with prejudice against Rectenwald.[9] In October 2018, Rectenwald invited Milo Yiannopoulos to speak in one of his classes. Yiannopoulos's visit was postponed for reasons of safety.[5]
Research contributions
Rectenwald has written on the origins of the movement called
Critique of social justice and leftism in academia
In 2018, the conservative New English Review Press published Rectenwald's memoir, Springtime for Snowflakes: Social Justice and Its Postmodern Parentage. In the memoir, Rectenwald critiques the contemporary social justice culture in academia, arguing that it has promoted an authoritarian and dogmatic culture in parts of academia.[14][15]
2024 presidential campaign
In 2023, Rectenwald filed to run for president of the United States seeking the Libertarian presidential nomination in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.[16]
Works
Books
- Rectenwald, Michael, and Lisa Carl. Academic Writing, Real World Topics. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press (May 28, 2015).
- Rectenwald, Michael, Rochelle Almeida and George Levine, eds. Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age. Boston: De Gruyter (September 25, 2015).
- Nineteenth-Century British Secularism: Science, Religion and Literature. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK; New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2016).
- Rectenwald, Michael and Lisa Carl. Academic Writing, Real World Topics. (Concise Edition). Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press (July 20, 2016).
- Springtime for Snowflakes: Social Justice and Its Postmodern Parentage. Nashville. TN; London, UK: New English Review Press (2018).
- Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom. Nashville, TN; London, UK: New English Review Press. (September 30, 2019).
- Rectenwald, Michael. Beyond Woke. New English Review Press. (May 18, 2020).
- Thought Criminal. New English Review Press. (December 1, 2020).
- The Great Reset. World Encounter Institute/New English Review Press (January 10, 2023).
Selected articles
- "Reading Around the Kids." In Constance Coiner and Diana Hume George, eds. The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties while You Mentor, Nurture, Teach, and Serve. University of Illinois Press, (1998): 107–13.
- "Local Histories, Broader Implications." College Composition and Communication 60, no. 2 (2008): 448.
- Smythe, Thomas W. and Michael Rectenwald. "Craig on God and Morality." International Philosophical Quarterly. 51.3. 203 (September 2011): 331–38.
- "Secularism." In Margaret Harris, ed. George Eliot in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2013): 271–78.
- "Secularism and the Cultures of Nineteenth-century Scientific Naturalism." The British Journal for the History of Science. 46.2 (June 2013): 231–54.
- "Mid-Nineteenth-Century British Secularism and its Contemporary Post-Secular Implications." In Michael Rectenwald, Rochelle Almeida and George Levine, eds. Global Secularisms in a Post- Secular Age. Boston: De Gruyter (2015): 43–64.
- "Introduction: Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age." In Michael Rectenwald, Rochelle Almeida and George Levine, eds. Global Secularisms in a Post- Secular Age. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter (2015): 1–24.
- "Secularism as Modern Secularity." In Ryan T. Cragun, Lori Fazzino, Christel Manning, eds. Organized Secularism in the United States. Boston and * * Berlin: De Gruyter (November 2017): 31–56.
- "'Social Justice' and Its Postmodern Parentage." Academic Questions. 31.2. (April 10, 2018): 130–139.
References
- ^ Springtime for Snowflakes, (Nashville, TN: New English Review Press), 31
- ^ "A Dangerous Minds exclusive: Previously unpublished interview with Allen Ginsberg". DangerousMinds. March 2, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ "Interview with Michael Rectenwald ('97) – Department of English". Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ "Three Books, One Year - Department of English - Carnegie Mellon University". Carnegie Mellon University. September 28, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ a b Kvetenadze, Téa (April 18, 2020). ""Anti-PC" Liberal Studies Professor Michael Rectenwald Has Retired". Medium. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ Siu, Diamond (October 24, 2016). "Q&A with a Deplorable NYU Professor". Washington Square News.
- ^ Rectenwald, Michael (November 3, 2016). "Here's what happened when I challenged the PC campus culture at NYU". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "UPDATE 11/11: Email Correspondence between Professor Michael Rectenwald and Dean Fred Schwarzbach". New York University. November 11, 2016.
- ^ "DECISION + ORDER ON MOTION - Michael Rectenwald v. New York University, Jacqueline Bishop, Amber Frost, Carley Moore, Theresa Senft - Trellis".
- ISBN 1-46551332-9.
- S2CID 145566942.
- ^ Rectenwald, Michael. (2016). Nineteenth-Century British Secularism: Science, Religion and Literature. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 106.
- ^ Reagles, David G. Nineteenth-Century British Secularism: Science, Religion, and Literature by Michael Rectenwald (review). Victorian Studies, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Summer 2017), pp. 681–682.
- ^ Messenger, Stephen (July 30, 2018). "Springtime for Snowflakes: "Social Justice" and Its Postmodern Parentage: A Review". Areo. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- Public Discourse. Princeton, New Jersey. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- ^ Philips, Aleks (September 9, 2023). "Libertarians Sense Golden Opportunity to Make 2024 Breakthrough". Newsweek. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
External links
- Official website
- Michael Rectenwald on Twitter