Few University Administrators Truly Honour Academic Freedom
Mia Swart | 15 May 2024 | Business Day
The explosion of violent police reaction to campus protests in solidarity with Palestine that swept over the US in recent weeks says much about the state of academic freedom in the US and beyond. At least 50 professors and more than 2,400 students were arrested during the protests on more than 50 campuses. Some older professors must have had a sense of déjà vu: many campus protesters have adopted rhetoric reminiscent of the anti-Vietnam campus protests.
Academic freedom is a freedom very few question but few university administrators truly honour in its full depth and scale. Loosely defined, it is the freedom to teach, write and learn without outside interference. As in the case of free speech protection, generally, academic freedom protects speech even if such speech goes against the current of political correctness. In an importance sense, the protection of speech is content neutral. The line between acceptable and unacceptable speech should be drawn only at the point of hate speech…