User:Lmader824/Academic freedom

= Academic Freedom (only added content by sub-heading) =

Controversies
In 1940, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) provided a fundamental definition of academic freedom which goes as follows: “professors have the privilege to search for truth and knowledge and the right to impart those truths and knowledge to others, including students, the academy, and the general public, unfettered by political or ideological pressure”.

Since being drafted, this definition has undergone two revisions in 1970 and 1999 respectively. The 1970 revision declares that the protections of academic freedom “apply not only to the full-time probationary and the tenured teacher, but also to all others, such as part-time faculty and teaching assistants, who exercise teaching responsibilities”. The 1999 revision places emphasis on the idea that post-tenure review should be conducted in a manner that respects academic freedom and due process.

In 2014, a debate was held by the Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP), addressing the potential need to either further revise the text, overhaul it completely, or leave it as is. The argument that revision/overhaul is necessary asserts that due to rapid growth of technology in education, introduction of social media (which effectively blurs the line between existing as an academic and an individual with unique interests), increase in international students, and rise in student expectations for return on investment since 1999, the statement no longer applies to modernized academia and thus should be changed. The counterargument to revision/overhaul asserts that the AAUP’s statement has aged well, and that overhauling the standard that has existed for decades would only stir up further confusion. Instead, it is necessary to “clearly articulate the statements' intended meaning through education, discussion, and by not supporting inappropriate behavior in the name of academic freedom”. This debate took place in front of a live audience, who after hearing both arguments agreed overwhelmingly with the counterargument.

Academic freedom for colleges and universities (institutional autonomy)
In 2007, the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey was administered to the following European countries: Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The aim of this survey was to gather comparative data between countries, “encompassing information about systems of higher education, along with the functions, productivity, and attitudes of professors/academics”.

This survey was conducted three years before Finland would undergo major legislative changes in parliament, allowing Finish institutions to no longer exist as strictly entities of the state as they had up until this point, with universities being granted the privilege to exist as legal and financial independents. Because of the timing, the results of the survey would reflect the opinion of Finnish educators who had not yet experienced institutional autonomy through legislation. For this reason, Finnish academics would assert that labor unions played major roles in the protection of Finnish academic freedom.

The survey also revealed that German academics generally felt that they had strong individual influence at the departmental level but lacked the ability to participate in decision making at the institutional level. However, according to Cambridge's findings, “Germany demonstrated the most diverse pattern of influence for selecting key administrators. The role of institutional managers was seen as being of most importance in selecting key administrators”.

British universities rely heavily on peer review and, with roughly 85% of British respondents having served as peer reviewers during their tenures.

(insert figure 1 here)

Academic culture in the United Kingdom emphasizes peer review, along with strict discipline to protect academic freedom, while Norway focuses on a clear and effective line of communication between faculty and educators alike. “In Italy and Norway, it is typical for respondents to serve as members of national or international scientific bodies. The nature of universities is that they are recognised as bottom-heavy organisations with craft-like traditional academic work”.

United States
It is an area where students have the freedom to think critically regarding information they come across, and where they can express concepts in an ever-growing topic within a field. It also opens up the ability for those students to discuss and even question particular sections of work in order to further advance their fields. Such an environment is maintained by professionals of such fields through the students’ professor(s). These people help guide the process of creating an expansive environment that protects ideas and encourages thought. They utilize the core protections and concepts within academic freedom to streamline this environment creating process. Professors, therefore, encourage discussion and analysis by presenting a multi-directional format in the information they teach. Professors draw from the same core information derived by their field, but express in a multitude of different ways in order to give students a way of discussing and comparing the data they receive. This way of encouraging discussion and critical analysis develops a more complete understanding of the subject matter. Such expansion in understanding also allows fields to recover data previously “glossed over” that pertained to accomplishments made by non-European societies in older times and cracking the original Europe-centered view of the world.

Academic freedom started in America after the Civil War disrupted the previously stagnating systems of higher education. The educational system that Germany had was analyzed by universities in order to progress fields of research. Johns Hopkins University was the first to utilize this education system.

Prior to the turn of the twentieth century, a professor by the name of Edward Ross published the free silver movement supporting document known as Honest Dollars. The document placed the professor in political disagreement with the owners of Stanford University. The Stanford family made their money from the railroad industry that the professor had publicly ridiculed. In 1900, the professor expressed politically charged statements that called for the expulsion of Japanese immigrants from the country which would lead to his termination from the university. This decision was followed by seven other professors resigning from the university and elevated the matter to national scrutiny. This event would set in motion the creation of the AAUP in order to provide monetary and legal security, filling the gaps in many of their contracts.

In 1957, the U.S. Supreme Court began to take up the matter starting with the case of Sweezy v. New Hampshire. In Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967), the Supreme Court made connections between the First Amendment and academic freedom as an especially important protection on the grounds that it was crucial to everyone. Such First Amendment protections only applied to public institutions, and academic freedom contains protections outside of the First Amendment as the Court never outright declared that it contained academic freedom.

Canada
Academic Freedom has its presence in Canada, as well. Though it's not as accepting in some places, like it is others. Based off of the controversial piece written by Charles Sykes titled, "ProfScam: Professors and the Demise of Higher Education", it describes the deeper truth happening within Canadian Universities with academic freedom. This book was considered controversial because of what the book contained in regards to explaining how lack of academic freedom shows which individuals are easiest to conform to societal norms, and those that are not. This piece revealed a lot of twisted accusations toward academic life, and led to make the book controversial. Sykes could not back these accusations up, and the entire argument being made was false. His ideas sparked numerous debates, and were quickly debunked.

The overall truth of lack of academic freedom at university campuses is extremely present. A lot of universities do not encourage students to look into academic freedom. At the University of Toronto, a psychologist by the name of John Furedy explains the effects of lack of academic freedom. He used the term, 'velvet totalitarianism', to describe anti-academic freedom on campuses at universities.

Because of the problems with academic freedom in colleges, the National Assembly of Quebec proposed Bill 32. This bill was introduced after an incident at the University of Ottawa, where a professor used a racially derogatory slur, in an 'educated' manner. This bill, [Bill 32, An Act Respecting Academic Freedom in the University Sector], defines academic freedom as, "Engage freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraint, such as institutional censorship.” This includes the freedom to discuss, teach, research, and create." This means that with this bill proposed, individuals could speak freely, no matter the setting, in educated spaces, with the purpose to educate those. This bill is to protect teachers and other professional individuals.

Notes and citations

 * 1) Woods, T. M., Acosta, W. R., Chung, E. P., Cox, A. G., Garcia, G. A., Klucken, J. R., & Chisholm-Burns, M. (2016). Academic Freedom Should Be Redefined: Point and Counterpoint. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 80(9), 146. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe809146
 * 2) Aarrevaara, T. (2010). Academic Freedom in a Changing Academic World. European Review, 18(S1), S55-S69.  doi:10.1017/S1062798709990317
 * 3) Downs, D. A. (n.d.). Academic Freedom What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How to Tell the Difference. Pope Center. https://www.jamesgmartin.center/acrobat/AcademicFreedom.pdf
 * 4) Academic Freedom and Tenure. (1962). AAUP Bulletin, 48(1), 50–51. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40223188
 * 5) Free speech and academic freedom. (2016, March 7). Columbia Law School. Retrieved October 10, 2023, from https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/free-speech-and-academic-freedom
 * 6) De Witte, M. and Levine, E. J. (2023, May 1). Academic freedom’s origin story. Stanford University. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/05/01/origin-story-academic-freedom/

1. Chalupovitsch, M. (n.d.). Canada: Quebec enacts law respecting academic freedom in universities. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2022-06-29/canada-quebec-enacts-law-respecting-academic-freedom-in-universities/

2. Robinson, D. (2019, October 15). Academic freedom in Canada: A labor law right. AAUP. https://www.aaup.org/article/academic-freedom-canada-labor-law-right Rubenstein. Originally published on Policy Options December 1, H. (2019, February 27). Tenure subverts academic freedom. Policy Options.

3. https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/university-tenure/tenure-subverts-academic-freedom/

4. Clifton, R. (n.d.). The struggle for free speech on Canadian campuses. Frontier Centre For Public Policy. https://fcpp.org/2019/11/13/the-struggle-for-free-speech-on-canadian-campuses/

5. USCS, S. (n.d.). Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) - senate.ucsc.edu. Academic Freedom. https://senate.ucsc.edu/committees/caf-committee-on-academic-freedom/caf_meetings_2021-22.pdf