In late August, the American Enterprise Institute issued a report claiming that scholarly associations such as the AHA have “traded their scholarly mission for a political one.” Therefore, the report continues, public universities should not use taxpayer money to fund conference travel or even basic participation in these organizations. My November column in Perspectives on History explains why this document is both empirically dubious and logically flawed, at least as it pertains to the AHA.
~Jim Grossman, AHA executive director