Academic Freedom in the United States

2. Academic Freedom in the United States The establishment of the American Association of University Professors [AAUP] in 1915 is significant both as a culmination and as a beginning. It was the culmination of tendencies toward professional self-consciousness that had been operating for many decades. It was the beginning of an era in which the principles of academic freedom were codified, and in which violations of academic freedom were systematically investigated and penalized. The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States (1955) by Richard Hofstadter & Walter P. Metzger Part II: The Age of the University by Walter P. Metzger

3. Academic Freedom in the United States Academic freedom is not a strong beacon that illuminates the entire university. It is rather a wavering flame of recent historical development. It is an idea not widely shared outside the academic world, and often misunderstood, unappreciated, and undefended within academia. Academic freedom is denied in theory and in practice by much of the world most of the time . . . The idea of academic freedom has been repeatedly threatened since the modern university emerged 125 years ago. . . . Zealotry & Academic Freedom (1995) by Neil Hamilton

4. Academic Freedom in the United States “Big Picture” Questions: 1) Where did the concept come from? 2) Who have been the major opponents & defenders of it? 3) Is it applied to institutions or individuals? Instructors or students? 4) What is the relationship between academic freedom & First Amendment rights?

5. Chronology: Sectarian Colleges (1636-1870s) The Gilded Age & Progressivism (1870s-1920s) The Great War & Jingoism (1910s-1920s) The Great Depression & Communism (1930s) The Cold War & McCarthyism (1940s-50s) The “New Left” & Student Activism (1960s-70s) Culture Wars & Political Correctness (late 1980s+)

6. Historical Context: Industrialization & urbanization Professionalization & specialization Modern Research Universities (late 19th c.) Johns Hopkins (1876)  Göttingen at Baltimore Number of doctorates @ American institutions Lernfreiheit & Lehrfreiheit

7. Organizing Expertise: Modern Language Association of America (1883) American Historical Association (1884) American Economic Association (1885) Geological Society of America (1888) American Mathematical Society (1888) American Psychological Association (1892) American Physical Society (1899) American Philosophical Association (1900) American Anthropological Association (1902) American Political Science Association (1903) American Sociological Association (1905)

8. Academic Freedom: Professors, Trustees, & Public Richard T. Ely, professor of economics, University of Wisconsin (1910) The American Economic Association took a stand at its organization for entire freedom of discussion. We were thoroughly devoted to the ideal of the German university—Lehrfreiheit and Lernfreiheit; and we have not hesitated to enter the lists vigorously in favor of freedom when we have considered it endangered. D. B. Purinton, “Academic Freedom from the Trustees’ Point of View” (1909) In case the published doctrines of an instructor in a state institution are plainly subversive of the state, of society or good morals, the trustees cannot sustain the instructor in such doctrines. “The Philadelphia Martyr,” editorial, New York Times (October 10, 1915) Academic freedom, that is, the inalienable right of every college instructor to make a fool of himself and of his college by . . . intemperate, sensational prattle about every subject under heaven, to his classes and to the public, and still keep on the payroll or be reft therefrom only by elaborate process, is cried to all the winds by the organized dons.

9. Academic Freedom: 19th century Cases (1886) Henry Carter Adams, economist, Cornell University: not reappointed after lecture critical of industrialists following Haymarket riots (1894) Richard T. Ely, economist, University of Wisconsin: tried for believing in “strikes & boycotts, justifying and encouraging the one while practicing the other.” (1895) Edward W. Bemis, economist, University of Chicago: dismissed for championing anti-monopoly views in a speech critical of the railroad companies during the Pullman strike. (1896) John R. Commons, economist, Indiana University: dismissed because of economic views. (1900) Edward A. Ross, economist, Stanford University: dismissed for opinions on silver & coolie immigration (1903) John S. Bassett, historian, Trinity College (N.C.): threatened with dismissal for article on the “Negro problem”

10. AAUP’s “General Declaration of Principles of Academic Freedom” (1915) AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom & Academic Tenure Edwin R.A. Seligman (Economics), Columbia University, ChairmanCharles E. Bennett (Latin), Cornell UniversityJames Q. Dealey (Political Science), Brown UniversityRichard T. Ely (Economics), University of WisconsinHenry W. Farnam (Political Science), Yale UniversityFrank A. Fetter (Economics), Princeton UniversityFranklin H. Giddings (Sociology), Columbia UniversityCharles A. Kofoid (Zoology), University of CaliforniaArthur O. Lovejoy (Philosophy), The Johns Hopkins UniversityFrederick W. Padelford (English), University of WashingtonRoscoe Pound (Law), Harvard UniversityHoward C. Warren (Psychology), Princeton UniversityUlysses G. Weatherly (Sociology), Indiana University

11. AAUP’s “General Declaration of Principles of Academic Freedom” (1915) • Linked Academic Freedom to Three Requirements: • Needs for academic research • Adequate instruction • Development of experts for public service • Major Threats to Academic Freedom: • Governmental favor • Tyranny of Public opinion • Limits of Academic Freedom: • Neutrality & competence [professional expertise] • Assumed immaturity of students

12. Academic Ideals: Neutrality & Competence William Rainey Harper, President of University of Chicago (1900) A professor abuses his privilege who takes advantage of a classroom exercise to propagate thepartisan views of one or another of the political parties. A professor abuses his privilege who in any way seeks to influence his pupils or the public by sensational methods. A professor abuses his privilege of expression of opinion when, although a student and perhaps an authority in one department or group of departments, he undertakes to speak authoritatively on subjects which have no relationship to the department in which he was appointed to give instruction. A professor abuses his privilege in many cases when, altho shut off in large measure from the world and engaged within a narrow field of investigation, he undertakes to instruct his colleagues or the public concerning matters in the world at large in connection with which he has had little or no experience.

13. Academic Ideals: Neutrality & Competence Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University (1898) It is not the function of the teacher to settle philosophical and political controversies for the pupil, or even to recommend to him any one set of opinions as better than any other. Exposition, not imposition, of opinions is the professor’s part. The student should be made acquainted will all sides of these controversies . . . The very word “education” is a standing protest against dogmatic teaching. The notion that education consists in the authoritative inculcation of what the teacher deems true may be logical and appropriate in a convent, but it is intolerable in universities and the public schools . . .

14. Related Web Resources Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Students for Academic Freedom (SAF) American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Free Speech on Public College Campuses (First Amendment Center) College Freedom (A website about Academic Freedom)