The Executive Council has issued a statement on the use of content warnings as a matter of pedagogical accessibility and professional ethics. The MLA observes that advance warnings about the nature of classroom material should not serve the purpose of avoiding challenging or controversial content. Instead, used at the discretion of the instructor, warnings should… Read more »
Posts Categorized: New Online
Angela Gibson Named New Director of Scholarly Communication
The MLA is pleased to announce that Angela Gibson has been named the new director of scholarly communication. In this role, Gibson will oversee MLA’s periodical and book publications, book acquisitions, and digital initiatives. This includes expanding the array of educational and editorial resources available at The MLA Style Center; enriching the MLA’s open-access resources, including CORE and MLA Commons;… Read more »
Results of 2017 Ratification Vote
Voting on the 2017 ratification ballot concluded at midnight (EDT) on 1 June. Members ratified the 2017 Delegate Assembly’s approval of two constitutional amendments. One amendment aligns the provision for paid life membership in article 3.C with the new criterion for the granting of life membership after fifty years; the other provides for the representation… Read more »
Paula M. Krebs Named MLA’s Next Executive Director
In a statement released today, the MLA announced that Paula M. Krebs will become the fourteenth executive director of the association on 1 August. Krebs, who is stepping down as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University, will succeed Rosemary G. Feal, the MLA’s executive director since 2002. Krebs… Read more »
Executive Council Opposes Proposed Stony Brook Cuts
In a letter to leaders at Stony Brook University, State University of New York, the MLA Executive Council expressed deep concern about the proposed cutbacks to several humanities programs at the university. Threatened with dissolution or resizing are the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature and the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, and undergraduate majors in… Read more »
Help Shape Literary Studies in the Digital Age Anthology
A new draft essay has been selected for open review in Literary Studies in the Digital Age, the MLA’s first born-digital, publicly available anthology. The anthology’s editors invite you to comment on Davin Heckman and James O’Sullivan’s “Electronic Literature: Contexts and Poetics.” The editors may then ask the authors to review their work in the light… Read more »
2017 Ratification Vote Now Under Way
At the 2017 convention the Delegate Assembly approved two amendments to the MLA constitution and two resolutions. The assembly’s actions are not final, however, since they are subject to ratification by the MLA membership. Members are therefore encouraged to review this year’s ratification ballot and to exercise their right to vote. All members in good… Read more »
MLA Past Presidents Ask You to Support the NEH and NEA
The new administration’s proposed 2018 budget calls for the total elimination of funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In response, twenty-four past presidents of the MLA have created a petition asking Congress to support full funding for these critical institutions. From scholars and students… Read more »
Executive Council Statement about MLA Resolutions
As commenting opens on two resolutions approved by the Delegate Assembly in January, the MLA Executive Council has issued a statement about the resolution process. At its February meeting the council reviewed the resolutions for any constitutional, legal, or fiduciary issues posed by the resolutions’ language and voted to forward the resolutions to the membership… Read more »
MLA Denounces Executive Order on Immigration
A new statement by the Executive Council denounces the 27 January executive order that temporarily bans citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, suspends all refugee admissions, and indefinitely bars the entry of Syrian refugees. The order has thrown lives into turmoil, undermined cultural exchange and academic freedom, and threatened core principles… Read more »