Some Reflections on Academic Freedom Today

The freedom of publication, speech, and opinion that is claimed by the university professor is not in principle different from that claimed by other men in liberal society. Difficulties surrounding academic freedom in the past arose mainly from the fact that the academician is also a salaried employee who claims the license to disagree with the views of those who provide or administer the funds from which he is paid. Arthur Lovejoy put it neatly, “The principle of academic freedom asserts.. that those who buy a certain service may not (in the most important particular) prescribe the nature of the service to be rendered.” Members of the academic professions have usually based their claim for freedom on the idea that their soci...