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Additional Reading on Academic Freedom

Most Recent Discussions on Academic Freedom

Academic Freedom in the Wired World (full text), Robert M.O'Neil responds to email questions about his book Academic Freedom in the Wired World: Political Extremism, Corporate Power, and the University, Inside Higher Education, insidehighered.com, March 6, 2008

Teachable Moments: An Interview with Robert M. O'Neil (full text) freeexchangeoncampus.org, March 5, 2008.

Colleges Face Ominous New Pressures on Academic Freedom (full text) by Robert M. O'Neil, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Commentary, February 8, 2008

Protecting Academic Freedom for California State University (CSU) Academic Programs, Including Area Studies (full text), A resolution of the Academic Senate of CSU, approved January 17-18, 2008

U.S.: Academic Freedom - A Disputed Territory (abstract full text,) John K. Wilson, University World News, January 13, 2008

General Discussions on Academic Freedom

Academic Governance and Academic Freedom (abstract) (full text) Speech by Pauline Yu, President, American Council of Learned Societies given at Colgate University, February 16, 2006.

Academic Freedom and Professional Responsibility after 9/11: A Handbook for Scholars and Teachers, A Project of the Taskforce on Middle East Anthropology (pdf)

The Value and Responsibilities of Academic Freedom (abstract) (full text) Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University, The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 8, 2005.

Academic Freedom in the 21st Century (full text) William G. Tierney and Vicente M. Lechuga, Thought & Action, Fall 2005

Academic Freedom and National Security in a Time of Crisis (abstract) (full text) A Report of the AAUP's Special Committee, Academe, November-December 2003

What Does It Mean to be "Balanced" in Academia? (abstract) (full text) David A. Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor and Department Chair, University of California, Berkeley, History News Network

Uses of Intimidation to Police Ideas and Halt Debate

On Being Called An Anti-Semite in Montana (abstract) (full text), Richard Drake, Academe Online, September-October 2007

Free Speech, Israel, and Jewish Illiberalism (abstract) (full text)(pdf), Alan Wolfe, Director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Professor of Political Science, Boston College, The Chronicle Review, November 17, 2006

Outspoken and Outcast (abstract) (full text), Eric Alterman, The Guardian, October 12, 2006

In N.Y., Sparks Fly Over Israel Criticism (abstract) (full text), Michael Powell, Washington Post Staff Writer, The Washington Post, October 9, 2006

The Case of Tony Judt: An Open Letter To The ADL (abstract) (full text) Mark Lilla, Richard Sennett (with over 100 signatures), The New York Reivew of Books, November 16, 2006

Outside Interference on University Faculty Tenure Decisions

Motzira-making on the Right (full text), Eric Alterman, Distinguished Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and Professor of Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, The Liberal Media,  The Nation, April 17, 2008

The Petition: Israel, Palestine, and a Tenure Battle at Barnard by Jane Kramer (full text), The New Yorker, April 14, 2008

Letter from MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom to the President of De Paul University Regarding Tenure Case of Norman G. Finkelstein , September 4, 2007 (full text) and April 10, 2007 (full text)

Threats to the Faculty-Student Relationship

Faculty in Columbia's Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) are accused of bias by students who work with the Boston-based advocacy group, the David Project for Jewish Leadership, to make a film entitled "Columbia Unbecoming".

  1.  "Panel Defends Academic Freedom" (abstract) (full text) Lisa Hirschmann, Staff Writer, Columbia Daily Spectator, February 22, 2005
  2.  "Statement on the David Project Film" (full text) President Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University, October 27, 2004 
  3.  NYCLU Defends Academic Freedom at Columbia University; The NYCLU's letter to President Bollinger, December 20, 2004 (abstract) (full text) 
  4.  Columbia University Ad Hoc Grievance Committee Report(abstract) (full text) March 28, 2005 
  5.  Joseph Massad's response the the Ad Hoc Grievance Committee's Report (abstract) (full text)
  6.  "When Students Complain About Professors, Who Gets to Define the Controversy?" (abstract) (full text) Jon Wiener, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 13, 2005
  7.  "The Mideast Comes to Columbia" (full text) Scott Sherman, The Nation, April 4, 2005
  8.  "Columbia’s Own Middle East War" (full text) A new documentary accusing Arab professors of intimidating Jewish students has touched off a fierce war—of words—on the Upper West Side. Where does free speech end and bullying begin? Jennifer Senior, New York Magazine, January 7, 2005
  9.  "'Columbia Unbecoming' in the Clear Light of Day" (abstract) (full text)

The Bruin Alumni Association, through its uclaprofs.com website, encourages (and even offers to pay) students for "top-quality class notes, lecture recordings and other materials" of professors the group proclaims "radical."

  1.  "UCLA's Dirty Thirty" (full text) Jon Wiener, The Nation, Comment, January 26, 2006
  2. "California Federation of Teachers and University Council-AFT Leaders Condemn Attack on Academic Freedom at UCLA" (full text)

Jewish Groups Coordinate Efforts to Help Students 'Take Back the Campus' (abstract) (full text) Rachel Pomerance, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 28, 2002

Threats to the Autonomy of Universities

The Trial of Israel's Campus Critics (abstract) (full) Article by David Theo Goldberg and Saree Makdisi about accounts of UCLA's Center for Near Eastern Studies panel on "Human Rights and Gaza". Tikkun Magazine, August 14, 2009.

Academic Bill of Rights (ABOR) (http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/abor.html), Borrowing language from the American Association of University Professors' 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the David Horowitz-penned "Academic Bill of Rights" is a veritable wolf in sheep's clothing, actually undermining the principles inherent in academic freedom.

  1. AAUP 2003 Statement on ABOR (full text)
  2.  AAUP on ABOR Legislation (full text) 
  3.  AAUP on ABOR State Legislation (full text)
  4.  "The 'Academic Bill of Rights' - Coming to Your Campus" (full text) Faculty Handout, AAUP
  5.  "Academic Freedom in Higher Education" (full text) American Federation of Teachers
  6.  "What's Not To Like About The Academic Bill of Rights" (full text) Dr. Graham Larkin, Stanford University (California Conference of the AAUP)
  7.  "Legislating Academic Freedom: The Larkin-Horowitz Debate"(website)
  8.  'Intellectual Diversity': The Trojan Horse of a Dark Design (full text) Stanley Fish, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, The Chronicle Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education
  9.  "Worse Than McCarthy" (full text) Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History at Yeshiva University; The Chronicle Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education and February 9 interview with Schrecker on The Chronicle of Higher Education, Colloquy.
  10.  "Right Winger's Bill to Stifle Campus Left-Leaners is a Surefire Backfire" (full text) Joe Hallett, The Columbus Dispatch, January 30, 2005
  11.  Hollinger Responds to SB 5 (full text) David Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor, UC Berkeley, California Conference of the American Association of University Professors
  12.  "Statement on Academic Rights and Responsibilities" (full text) American Council on Education, June 23, 2005
  13.  American Council on Education press release regarding Statement on Academic Rights and Responsibilities, June 23, 2005
  14.  "Higher-Education Groups Issue Statement on Academic Rights and Intellectual Diversity on Campuses" (full text) Sara Hebel, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 23, 2005

Academic Freedom And Middle East Studies

What happened when the campus rabbi tried to send students to disrupt a forum on academic freedom at Brown,By Elliott Colla, Academe Online, September-October 2007 (abstract) (full text)

The New American McCarthyism: Policing Thought about the Middle East (abstract) (full text) Joel Beinin, Race & Class, SAGE Publications, 2004

Middle Eastern Studies and the Politics of Intimidation (pdf), Ali Banuazizi, Boston College, Comparative Studies of South Asia and the Middle East, 2005; 25: 519 - 521.

The New McCarthyism in Academe (full text), Ellen Schrecker, Yeshiva University, Thought & Action, Fall 2005

Strategizing Control of the Academy (full text), Sara Roy, Harvard University, Thought & Action, Fall 2005

No, It's Not Anti-Semitic (abstract) (full text) Judith Butler, London Review of Books, August 21, 2003

Academic Freedom Post-9/11 (pdf) Beshara Doumani, UC Berkeley, ISIM Review 15, Spring 2005

Interview with Beshara Doumani, UC Berkeley (abstract) (full text) Inside Higher Education, insidehighered.com, March 7, 2006.

Attempts to Undermine Funding Sources

Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965

The US Department of Education's Title VI program faces legislation–originating from powerful advocacy groups who have an unprecedented audience with leading members of Congress–that would establish an oversight board for the program. The board would have seemingly unlimited power that could subject grant recipients to the political whims of the day, even potentially reaching into the curriculum taught on American campuses. (read more)

  1. US Department of Education Title VI Program Description
  2. Coalition for International Education letter to members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee regarding H.R. 609, College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005: HEA-Title VI, International Education Amendments (full text)
  3. Letter to the US Senate from 8 organizations in favor of H.R. 3077 (full text) March 15, 2004
  4. Text of "Dear Colleague" letter circulated by Representative Dan Burton in support of his amendment to H.R. 609 (full text)

The New Commissars (abstract) (full text) Anders Strindberg, The American Conservative, February 2, 2004

Threats to Freedom of Speech

New York City Department of Education bars Columbia professor from participating in outreach activity.

  1. MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom letter to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (full text) April 7, 2005
  2. "Columbia Professor Banned From Teacher Training" (full text) Brock Read, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 4, 2005
  3.  "Education Department Dismisses Khalidi" (full text) Lisa Hirschmann, Staff Writer, Columbia Daily Spectator, February 23, 2005
  4.  "U. Senate Addresses Dismissal of Khalidi..." (full text) Lisa Hirschmann, Staff Writer, Columbia Daily Spectator, February 28, 2005
  5.  "NYCLU Warns School's Chancellor Is Violating Free Speech Rights of Columbia Professor" (full text) nyclu.org, March 1, 2005
  6.  "Academic Freedom, Intimidation, and Mayoral Politics: The Case of Rashid Khalidi" (full text) Andy Humm, Gotham Gazette, April 7, 2005
  7.  "Scholarship, Not Politics, Is the Measure of a Professor"(abstract) (full text) Daily Princetonian, April 27, 2005
  8.  "NYCLU, Playwright Tony Kushner And Activists In Defense Of Columbia Professor" (abstract) (full text) March 21, 2005 
  9.  "Freedom of Speech Challenged in Academia" (abstract) (full text) PEN Newsfeed, PEN Center USA, March 21, 2005

On John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt and the publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

  1.  Mearsheimer/Walt letter to Chicago Council on Global Affairs regarding cancellation of their scheduled talk (full text)
  2.  "Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel" by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, August 16, 2007 (full text)

Threats to Foundations as Funding Sources

  1. "The Ford Foundation: Funding International Terror?" (full text) Steven Bernstein, FrontPageMagazine.com, November 12, 2003
  2. "Target Ford" (full text) Scott Sherman, The Nation, June 5, 2006
  3.  "Taken for Granted: Ford Replies" (full text) The Nation, June 19, 2006
  4. "Funding Hate: How Ford Fund Aids Enemies of the Jewish State (full text) Edwin Black, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The New York Sun, October 20, 2003
  5.  “Funding Hate Part 1: Anti-Israel Activities at Durban were Funded by Ford” (abstract) (full text) Edwin Black, The Jewish Telegraph Agency, October 1, 2001
  6. "Ford Capitulates to Critics of Its Stance on Israel" (full text) Marta Hummel, Staff Reporter, The New York Sun, November 19, 2003 
  7.  "Senate to Probe Ford Foundation Funding of Hate" (full text) Edwin Black, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 18, 2003
  8.  "ACLU Declines Ford and Rockefeller Grants Due to Restrictive Funding Agreement; Painful but Principled Decision to Put Civil Liberties First" (full text) Statement of Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director, October 17, 2004 
  9.  "Colleges Battle New Grant Wording" (full text) Stephen M. Marks, The Harvard Crimson, January 24, 2005

Threats to International Scholars

Tariq Ramadan-Prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan's visa was revoked just days before he was to take the position of the Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding, a joint appointment at the Kroc Institute and the Classics Department of the University of Notre Dame.

  1.  "Too Scary for the Classroom" (abstract) (full text) Op-ed, Tariq Ramadan, The New York Times, September 1, 2004 
  2.  US Revokes Visa of Islamic Scholar to Visit Scholars at Risk Network Member University of Notre Dame, SAR Press Release, September 3, 2004 (full text)
  3.  MESA and the American Academy of Religion letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge regarding Ramadan visa revocation. (full text)
  4.  "Mystery of the Islamic Scholar Who Was Barred by the U.S.” (abstract) (full text) Deborah Sontag, The New York Times, October 6, 2004 
  5.  "Osama University?" (full text) Michelle Goldberg, Salon.com, November 6, 2003 
  6.  "Court Orders Government to Adjudicate Foreign Scholar's Visa in Suit by AAUP and Others" (full text) AAUP Press Release, June 23, 2006 
  7. "ACLU Sues U.S. Government Over Documents That Might Explain Visa Denials to Dozens of Scholars" (full text) Rebecca Aronauer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 11, 2005


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