Academic Freedom: Questions of Principle

1. Do you agree that the fundamental mission of the university in the Western tradition is and should continue to be the fulfillment of the following general principles:

(a) the disinterested pursuit of truth;
(b) educating in the classical liberal tradition;
(c) the advancement of mankind's general knowledge;

2. Do you agree with John Stuart Mill that advancements in mankind's knowledge of "truth" depend on an intellectual environment with:

(a) unrestrained freedom of speech
(b) a diversity of views being that truth requires ideas to continuously undergo challenge and be exposed to competition;
(c) an absence of censorship, intimidation, or other attempt to silence thought and stifle competition.

Or similarly with Justice Powell's view that:

"The Nation's future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth`out of a multitude of tongues,[rather] than through any kind of authoritative selection."

3. If you agree with this mission for the university (1) and believe Mill's analysis to be correct -to make progress in the search for "truth" and increase mankind's general knowledge requires a liberally educated society committed to individual liberty - (2) , would it be fair to characterize "academic freedom" as the means of achieving the university's desired ends as opposed to some transcendent principle which has value whether it aids or hinders the mission of the university?

In other words, is academic freedom a privilege which society bestowed upon college professors with the understanding and expectation that by providing intellectuals with the security of not having to fear repercussions or censorship, the free discussion of diverse ideas could thrive and produce new knowledge? Does academic freedom hinge on a presumption of good faith on the behalf of universities?

Or as Justice Sandra Day O'Connor suggested in the court's Grutter v. Bollinger opinion regarding the University of Michigan's use of affirmative action in its admissions policies:

"Our conclusion that the Law School has a compelling interest in a diverse student body is informed by our view that attaining a diverse student body is at the heart of the Law School's proper institutional mission, and that ‘good faith' on the part of a university is ‘presumed' absent ‘a showing to the contrary.'"

I believe this is a good place for me to stop and wait for your response lest I spend several thousand words trying to persuade you on something we already agree on. I'm sure you had no problem discerning how I would've answered those questions so if you disagree in all or in part about anything I'll be looking forward to proving you wrong. Otherwise, it's okay to admit how frustrating it is for me to always be right, and I'll go on with my argument. Because I'm nice, I've ended with an excerpt from a 1915 statement of principles issued by the AAUP that might figure into your answer to my third question. And since you are, after all, not kidding about being a liberal, I thought I would bring special attention to those parts you're likely to find foreign and hard to relate to.

Fondly, The Conservative

"Since there are no rights without corresponding duties, the considerations heretofore set down with respect to the freedom of the academic teacher entail certain correlative obligations. The claim to freedom of teaching is made in the interest of integrity and of the progress of scientific inquiry...The university teacher, in giving instructions upon controversial matters, while he is under no obligation to hide his own opinion under a mountain of equivocal verbiage, should, if he is fit in dealing with such subjects, set forth justly, without suppression or innuendo, the divergent opinions of other investigators; he should cause his students to become familiar with the best published expressions of the great historic types of doctrine upon the questions at issue; and he should, above all, remember that his business is not to provide his students with ready-made conclusions, but to train them to think for themselves, and to provide them access to those materials which they need if they are to think intelligently."