Profs effectively seek to ban books from Trump admin officials
A handful of professors demanded that publishing companies refuse to work with Trump administration alumni.
This is the latest among many calls from academics to bar former Trump officials from positions of influence.
A handful of professors joined a group of publishing professionals demanding that companies refuse to work with Trump administration alumni on book deals.
It’s not the first time that book publishers have faced pressure from the left. Simon and Schuster Publishing canceled the publication of Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) book after he objected to the certification of election results in certain key battleground states.
Regnery Publishing later announced it would publish Hawley’s book.
Now, more than 550 members of the publishing industry, some of them professors, have signed a letter proclaiming that “our country is where it is in part because publishing has chased the money and notoriety of some pretty sketchy people.”
”As members of the writing and publishing community of the United States, we affirm that participation in the administration of Donald Trump must be considered a uniquely mitigating criterion for publishing houses when considering book deals,” the letter added.
“Consequently, we believe: No participant in an administration that caged children, performed involuntary surgeries on captive women, and scoffed at science as millions were infected with a deadly virus should be enriched by the almost rote largesse of a big book deal,” it continued.
“In that spirit, those who enabled, promulgated, and covered up crimes against the American people should not be enriched through the coffers of publishing,” the letter insisted, concluding that the publishing industry should not enrich “monsters.”
[RELATED: Harvard drops GOP lawmaker Elise Stefanik over certification objection]
Among the letter’s signers were several university professors.
Tania James, an associate professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, was one signer. In her work as a novelist, she has won awards from the New York Times, NPR, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kansas City University medical professor Robert Cooley also signed the letter, as did former St. Catherine’s University theology professor Edward Sellner.
The letter is the latest call from academia to bar members of Trump’s administration from positions in mainstream society.
As Campus Reform previously reported, students and professors at leading universities, such as George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and Harvard University, have advocated for their schools to bar former Trump officials from academic posts.
Campus Reform reached out to James, Cooley, and Sellner for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
