The Singular Freedom of Academic Freedom

In this paper, I want to discuss how particular conceptions of academic freedom can overshadow issues of justice for racialized members of the academy. In particular, the question I will explore is how we can begin to think of academic freedom in relation to, and not against, freedom from structural racial discrimination. I will explore this question in relation to presentations made at a conference on academic freedom, and through the examination of a few notable cases (both historical and contemporary) of academic freedom and racism in the classroom as well as in the blogosphere and social media.     

“By Whose Definition?”: The University of Saskatchewan's Firing of a Dean and the Textual Battle to Define Academic Freedom in Canada

The article focuses on the firing of a dean at Canada's University of Saskatchewan in 2014 to consider both the decidedly weak response to this event as an infringement of academic freedom protections, and the corporate instrument that was cited as the excuse for the firing, an employment contract's confidentiality clause. The central concerns are with the relationship of academic freedom to freedom of expression more generally, and the textual battle in Canada for the definition of academic freedom in which (in the face of the silence of academics at all levels) administrative imperatives shaped by a neoliberal agenda are currently dominating.     

Academic freedom,institutional autonomy and the corporatised university in contemporary South Africa 1

This article examines threats from the state, institutional bureaucrats and academics themselves to academic freedom and to the institutional autonomy of universities in South Africa, and argues that the situation is more complex than is often perceived. The generally disappointing post‐independence history of academic freedom and autonomy in Sub‐Saharan Africa is drawn upon to illustrate the perils that may accompany too eager an embrace of the state by intellectuals in South Africa in confronting persisting racial inequities in institutions of higher learning. The article suggests that a ‘republican’ approach linked to social accountability may provide a way forward. To be securely founded, the advancement of academic freedom and institutional autonomy must be embedded in the prevailing power realities: it must grow from the contestation of empowered stakeholders. Finally, the article makes a number of specific recommendations calculated to strengthen the quest for such freedom and autonomy.     

The New Challenge to Academic Freedom1

Academics have developed principles and policies ofacademic freedom during the last century in order to protect intellectual inquiry from ideological and political interference. One recent academic freedom case is compared to several earlier in the century in order to illustrate how threats to academic freedom have changed in recent decades. Most importantly, threats now come primarily from within rather than outside academe. Even the best academic freedom policies provide scant protection when an institution fails to enforce them and when the professorate fails to insist that they be enforced. Threatened individuals must then tum to external parties for protection. However, such appeals for outside assistance invite the very political interference that academic freedom policies were originally developed to deter. Academics thus risk losing what they collectively fail to protect.     

The new challenge to academic freedom

Academics have developed principles and policies of academic freedom during the last century in order to protect intellectual inquiry from ideological and political interference. One recent academic freedom case is compared to several earlier in the century in order to illustrate how threats to academic freedom have changed in recent decades. Most importantly, threats now come primarily from within rather than outside academe. Even the best academic freedom policies provide scant protection when an institution fails to enforce them and when the professorate fails to insist that they be enforced. Threatened individuals must then turn to external parties for protection. However, such appeals for outside assistance invite the very political interference that academic freedom policies were originally developed to deter. Academics thus risk losing what they collectively fail to protect.Based on a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Chattanooga, Tennessee, April 3, 1993.Co-director of the Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society.     

PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES AND TEACHING SOCIOLOGY (2009 MSSA PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS)

In this address, I review available published presidential addresses written by presidents of various sociological organizations as a way of thinking about sociology and what sociologists may find important. Using Eller's categorizations, I divide the articles into three types including (1) query of the profession in which the author discussed the history of sociology or its future; (2) a call for new directions in methodologies or theories within sociology; and (3) a focus on the author/president's research. Then, I focus on what is missing in most presidential addresses given by sociologists: sociologists' role as educators and the impact we have upon students. I find that most presidential addresses do not include any or only passing nods to our responsibilities as teachers. I end the address with a call to consider our responsibilities and impact as teachers.     

A Student Looks at Junior Town Meetings

This article provides some strategies to alleviate the current tensions between personal responsibility and freedom of speech rights in the public school classroom. The article advocates the necessity of making sure students understand the points and implications of the first amendment by providing a mock trial unit concerning free speech rights. This unit not only teaches the rules of civility in a courtroom, it also presents a free speech case based upon one that actually happened in a public school classroom. Direct involvement in this case provides a safe environment for students to grapple openly with free speech limits.     

The Bog‐like Ground on Which We Tread: Arbitrating Academic Freedom in Canada*

Le sens de la liberté universitaire est en partie construit socialement au moyen de l'arbitrage. Cet article examine ce processus dans un contexte légal plus large et analyse les cas d'arbitrage de liberté universitaire les plus pertinents au Canada. Il étudie ce que nous révèle la construction sociale des arbitres concernant la liberté universitaire et comment les conditions conceptuelles et structurales de l'arbitrage influent sur son sens. The meaning of academic freedom is, in part, socially constructed through arbitration. This article examines that process in the larger legal context and analyses the most relevant Canadian arbitrations of academic freedom. It examines what the social construction by arbitrators tells us about academic freedom and how the conceptual and structural conditions of arbitration affect its meaning.     

The rejected voice: towards intersubjectivity in speech language pathology

Speech language pathology needs to be linked with philosophy. Those with communication impairments encounter many problems when engaging in conversation with others. Does only the speaker(s) bear the responsibility to make their speech intelligible? In order to answer this question, I suggest that a Wittgensteinian approach offers original insights into speech as an intersubjective phenomenon. By exploring my experiences of having speech difficulties due to cerebral palsy, I shall argue that the unintelligibility of my voice is not simply my failure to achieve the able-spoken standard(s) of speech, but also the failure of others to recognise my utterance as speech. I hope to offer a different account of the voice that defines the human voice as intelligible speech – one that provides a more appropriate philosophical diversity for understanding the ethics of articulation.     

Internet architecture,freedom of expression and social responsibility: critical realism and proposals for a better future

The article opens by explaining the architecture of the Internet. Given its present raison d'être, a free highway allowing maximum freedom, one may argue that the bounds of free expression are broader in scope on the Net compared with the bounds of legitimate speech allowed on other forms of communication. Contesting this assertion, it is argued that legally speaking, there is no difference between electronic communication and other forms of communication. I probe some problematic forms of expression: terrorism, criminal activity, and cyberbullying, arguing that freedom of expression is important but so is social responsibility. The article concludes by offering a new paradigm Internet for the future called CleaNet©. CleaNet© will be sensitive to prevailing cultural norms of each and every society and will be clean of content that the society deems to be dangerous and antisocial. No cyberbullying, child pornography, hateful bigotry, criminal activity, and terrorist material will be available on the new Net. Netusers, with the cooperation of ISPs and web-hosting companies, will together decide which content will be considered illegitimate and unworthy to be excluded from CleaNet©.     

Using Disability Law to expand Academic Freedom for Disabled Researchers in the United Kingdom

We consider the findings of a study of the experiences of Postgraduate Researchers with Disabilities and explore how this relates to academic freedom. Drawing upon the provisions of the Public Sector Equality Duty and Indirect Discrimination within the Equality Act (2010), we note that a range of existing public policy practices, such as the operation of the REF, are likely to be in breach of these obligations. We recommend revisions to existing practice that speak more widely to the general concern of academic freedom, suggesting that a consideration of anti-discrimination law – rather than a purely intellectually focussed agenda – represents a pragmatic means towards shaping the inclusivity of higher education policy going forwards.     

Homosexuals,Heretics, and the Practice of Freedom Commentary on Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance by Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pelligrini

Here I construe Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini's proposal to protect freedom of sexual expression among consenting adults within an agonistic theory of democracy. Jakobsen and Pellegrini argue contrary to the U.S. Constitution, state legislatures have intervened in political conflicts over sexual morality by “establishing” sectarian Christian mores, and they urge more robust protection of religious and sexual expression. I develop three themes in response: First, to display the democratic framework of their proposal, I briefly set out the constitutional analogy on which Jakobsen and Pellegrini depend; second, I explain Jakobsen and Pellegrini's rejection of the ethos of tolerance in light of the agonistic political theory of William E. Connolly; and third, I propose that Freud's theory of mourning and melancholia may point to affective resources for invigorating practices of freedom.     

On religious freedom and civic learning

In this article I look at the issue of religious freedom in today's world. It is clear that religious and ethnic divisions have led to much bloodshed in recent years. I look at the implications that recent developments have for the way we educate in religion, religious tolerance and religious freedom.     

The Taboos in legal research ‐ a personal case history

As accused or defendant in three trials and their appeals, the present writer has had the misfortune of contributing materially to the drastic narrowing down of the freedom of speech in the administration of justice, and hence of the freedom of scientific enquiry in that field. The question of race particularly has become a subject which is now substantially off‐limits to the researcher and critic of the South African administration of justice. The relevance of these court cases is assessed, both for the permissibility of research in sensitive areas and the fostering of the kind of intellectual climate in which such research would be possible.     

Research Selectivity, Managerialism, and the Academic Labor Process: The Future of Nonmainstream Economics in U.K. Universities

This paper reports the results of empiricalresearch designed to explore the impact of researchselectivity on the work and employment of academiceconomists in U.K. universities.Research selectivityis seen as part of the general trend towardmanagerialism in higher education in both the U.K. andabroad. Managerialism based on performance indicatorsand hierarchical control has been contrasted withcollegiate control-based or informal peer review. However,analysis of the academic labor process has idealizedcollegiate relations at the expense of professionalhierarchies and intellectual authority relations. We argue that in the U.K., there has evolved amainstream economics which is located within awell-defined neoclassical core. We find that theexistence of lists of core mainstream journals which arebelieved to count most in the periodic ranking exerciseposes a serious threat to academic freedom and diversitywithin the profession, institutionalizing the controlwhich representatives of the mainstream exercise over both the academic labor process and jobmarket. In this way, managerialism combines with peerreview to outflank resistance to new forms ofcontrolling academic labor at the same time asreinforcing disciplinary boundaries through centralizedsystems of bureaucratic standardization andcontrol.     

Privacy,data protection and emerging sciences and technologies: towards a common framework

Privacy is an important fundamental human right. It underpins human dignity and other values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech. However, privacy is being challenged in the networked society. The use of new technologies undermines this right because it facilitates the collection, storage, processing and combination of personal data by security agencies and businesses. This research note presents the background and agenda of the recently-commenced research project PRESCIENT, which aims at reconceptualizing the concept of privacy and developing means for the assessment of privacy impacts.     

To the Dark Side and Back: The Administrative Odyssey of an Academic Sociologist with Lessons Learned

My first semester as a tenure-track faculty member at a mid-size university began ignominiously and suggested that my academic career might be short-lived. It began with a blistering memo that was stridently critical of the academic dean’s policy which led to being taken to the proverbial woodshed. Other less serious episodes followed which put me at odds with the “administration.” Yet I have spent more than a third of my career in administrative positions, including a stint in the provost’s office (as an assistant vice chancellor), and only recently returned to faculty status. Over the course of my academic career I have noticed that a large number of academic sociologists have taken administrative positions in academia beyond that of the department chair. This paper will explore this phenomenon and discuss the reasons members of the ‘debunking’ discipline assume administrative roles. I will address this issue within the context of my personal odyssey in administration and how the sociological perspective and imagination has contributed to working in the ‘dark side’ of academia. Finally, I will discuss lessons learned and recommendations for the aspirant administrators among the ranks of academic sociologists.     

Capability,freedom and profound disability

It has been suggested that capability theory is well suited to assess egalitarian principles of justice as these apply to people with learning difficulties and disabilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how extensive that assistance is in respect of people whose difficulties are multiple and profound. I am concerned with one aspect of capability theory in particular; namely, the place accorded to the concept and value of freedom. I argue that capability theory exaggerates the importance of freedom as a basic value for egalitarian evaluation.     

Panic and the Breakdown of Social Order: Popular Myth,Social Theory,Empirical Evidence

Abstract

The academic public that I encounter at my lectures always show surprise when I speak intimately and deeply about the classroom. That public seemed particularly surprised when I said that I was working on a collection of essays about teaching. This surprise is a sad reminder of the way teaching is seen as a duller, less valuable aspect of the academic professions. This perspective on teaching is a common one.     

Emotional Safeguarding: Exploring the Nature of Middle‐Class Parents’ School Involvement1

Although discussion of parents’ school involvement generally surrounds academic success, there are also emotional motivations for parents’ school interventions. In this exploratory analysis, based on interviews with 21 parents and teachers, I show how these middle‐class parents’ concerns for children extend beyond grades and academic success to the children’s own emotional comfort with schooling. I discuss examples of emotional safeguarding, a parental practice to protect children’s happiness at school. Results also suggest that emotional and academic concerns for children at school are interrelated, and parents often approach the emotional with the academic in mind. Parents focus on reducing children’s anxiety or discomfort at school with the ultimate goal of instilling a love of learning. The parents in this study perceive an emotional route to achieving academic success for their middle‐class children. Unlike parents, teachers in the study identify parents’ concerns as academic or a product of parents’ anxiety. This research introduces the possibility that while parents’ academic concerns are very real, they are also accompanied by equal and occasionally greater concerns for children’s happiness and well‐being at school.