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Prerequisites: None

Course Description

 At no point during the last half century has there been a more important time to understand academic freedom (AF). In this class we will consider how AF works for faculty, students and institutions. While primarily focused on American AF, we will place it in a comparative context, both with respect to AF in other countries, and vis-à-vis similar privileges granted to other professions (e.g. lawyers, doctors) in the US. We will also consider how AF relates to broader free speech issues, and discuss whether there is a distinct argument to be made for a separate set of rights which give AF legal weight in the US context.

 The class will frame AF in the US as an “essentially contested concept,” with adherents of (at least) three distinct approaches: professional, epistemic, and critical.  We will discuss the application of these three approaches to research, teaching, intramural expression and extramural speech.

 We will consider different phenomena that plausibly pose challenges to AF, including internal constraints (e.g. actions by university administrators, as well as epistemic and non-epistemic norms) and external interventions (e.g. private philanthropy, state action, and social media commentary). While we will discuss contemporary events, the focus of the class will be on developing a rigorous framework for understanding the trajectory and impact of AF over time.What is academic freedom and why is it important for faculty in the United States to have the ability to teach, research and speak on a wide variety of topics, including controversial ones? Should faculty be fired for their social media posts? What rights do students have when it comes to academic freedom?  These are some of the main questions of this class. Universities are under pressure to think through what type of curricula, research, and speech they allow on campus from actors both on campus and off.  We will study different approaches to academic freedom - we think about the nature and meaning of that freedom, if it is necessary for professions to enjoy broad freedoms, and whether there are necessary limitations to that freedom (and if so, who decides?). We will consider the changes in academic freedom over time in the US and compared to other countries. 

PSC 300 m101 Policy Implementation

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