An article published online by Today has been taken down due to a "legal challenge".

The article, "Opaque policies, fixation with KPIs, rankings: Why arts and humanities academics quit NUS, NTU", is no longer available for viewing on the Today website.

It was published on Sunday, Jan. 6 and removed on Thursday, Jan. 10.

According to canonical publicly accessible Facebook data, the article had accumulated 4,543 likes, shares and comments.

"Legal challenge"

In response to Mothership.sg media queries, Mediacorp said:

“The article was taken down on 10 Jan as it is the subject of a legal challenge and our lawyers are looking into the matter.”

The statement did not reveal who issued the legal challenge.

Today is published by Mediacorp Press.

What is the article about

As the origin of the legal challenge was not revealed by Mediacorp, it is unclear which persons or organisations found fault with the article, and which portions are deemed contentious.

But, in brief, the Today article asserted that opaque tenure and promotion policies, resistance to innovation and a “warped” notion of institutional excellence as reasons for the high academic turnover at National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

However, the balance of the coverage appeared to tip towards the information received from 10 academics who have left or are leaving NUS and NTU.

Those who spoke to Today for the piece said there were deeper and pervasive issues affecting the faculty members in fields that cater to the bulk of undergraduates studying arts, social sciences and communications in Singapore particularly.

Some of those interviewed said they had to prioritise research publishing over teaching.

This led to unhappiness and departures of academics resulted, even when the coveted tenure was awarded.

In response to Today's queries, the two universities did respond in the article that the turnover rates at the affected faculties were not high, but they did not disclose any numbers.

Mothership.sg has also contacted NUS for comments but have yet to receive a response.

Article republished elsewhere

The article's removal was noticed by the online community, which has since taken steps to republish the article in full on forums and even on Medium, a blog publishing site.