Raphael Cohen-Almagor
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Lecture Plan
 Section 1 -- Introduction
 Section 2 -- Guiding principles, especially professionalism
 Section 3 -- Academic mission
 Section 4 -– What might compromise academic freedom?
 Section 5 –- The threat of commercialization
 Section 6 – Plagiarism
 Section 7 – Freedom of extramural expression
 Section 8 – Academic boycott
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Introduction
 Academic freedom is a subset of freedom of
expression.
 It is about free speech in academic setting.
 It includes freedom of inquiry, freedom of association,
and freedom of publication.
 The term "academic freedom" has traditionally had
two applications - to the freedom of the teacher and to
that of the student.
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Questions
 Can an academic teach everything?
 What kinds of pressures do we face?
 To what extent do current trends regarding the
commercialisation of research undermine
fundamental academic principles such as academic
freedom, integrity in research, openness, and serving
the public interest?
 Are there any limits on freedom of extramural
expression?
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Guiding Principles
 Conscience – people should be true to their
conscience, able to express their mind
notwithstanding what other are thinking.
 The Millian Truth Principle – search for truth; Galileo
Galilei
 Responsibility
 Transparency and honesty – be aware and alert others
of compromising factors and interests
 Independence – thus student papers should raise their
own funding.
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Professionalism
 Professionalism – we expect certain standards to be
met because of the academic setting.
 The function of academic freedom is not to
liberate individual professors from all forms of
institutional regulation, but instead to ensure that
faculty within the university are free to engage in
professionally competent forms of inquiry and
teaching, which are necessary for the realization of
the social purposes of the university.
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Professionalism
 Academics are professional experts in the production of
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knowledge.
Thus they cannot teach the flat earth theory and other
falsehoods in an academic setting.
Academic freedom is not an individual right.
Context – Protocols of the Elders of Zion, not in a course
on Jewish civilization; yes in a course on hate and bigotry
Organized institutions of peer-review and faculty selfregulation on the basis of a professed skepticism of
professional norms.
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Professionalism
 The conception of academic freedom as an
individual right seems superficially attractive
because it appears to promise greater security for
academic dissent.
 But in reality it would risk undercutting the
professional norms necessary for the external
defense of academic freedom.
 Without this defense there are forms of political
power that might be ready to seize control of the
academic community.
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Professionalism
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Professionalism
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Professionalism
 You did not expect me to show you an empty
slide.
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Mission
 The mission of a university is multi-dimensional.
 The importance of academic freedom is most clearly
perceived in the light of the purpose for which
universities exist.
 These are three in number:
 To promote inquiry and advance the sum of human
knowledge.
 To provide general instruction to the students.
 To develop experts for various branches of the public
service.
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Mission
 In other words, academic freedom is about teaching,
research and extra-mural utterance and action.
 Just like teaching and research, the service mission can
entail a wide variety of activities.
 University should be the hotbed for new ideas.
 Academia is the only profession that is able to reflect,
scrutinize, and develop long-term processes (to be
distinguished from journalism, for instance).
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Mission
 Scholars must be absolutely free not only to pursue
their investigations but to declare the results of their
researches, no matter where they may lead them or to
what extent they may come into conflict with accepted
opinion.
 To be of use to the legislator or the administrator, they
must enjoy their complete confidence in the
disinterestedness of their conclusions.
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What might undermine academic
freedom?
 Business, money
 Pressure –
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your supervisor,
Superiors (Chairperson, Dean, senior admin),
peers,
Business (university donors),
politics,
social conformity
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What might undermine academic freedom?
 Jack Kevorkian - UCLA
 Textbooks.
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Compromising effects - Patronage
 In some countries, most notably Germany, Austria and
Italy, it is almost impossible to receive a position on the
basis of merit alone.
 Camps – you support my candidate I support yours.
 People are not free to express their minds.
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Compromising effects - Biography writing
 Authorized v. Unauthorized biographies of living
politicians, judges and other decision-makers.
 Compromising effects.
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Compromising effects – real politics
 Conscience v. real politic
 Scholars who research contemporary China
 Professor Yitzhak Shichor
 Professor Ross Terrill
 http://almagor.blogspot.com
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Compromising effects – Business
 The story of Edward A. Ross who advocated in 1900 against
the importation of cheap Asian labor.
 He had so profoundly distressed the Founder and
proprietor of Stanford University, Mrs. Leland Stanford,
who wrote president David Starr Jordan:
 “I must confess I am weary of Professor Ross, and I think he
ought not to be retained at Stanford University. . . . I trust
that before the close of this semester Professor Ross will
have received notice that he will not be re-engaged for the
new year.”
 Jordan obeyed his instructions. Ross was fired.
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Commercialization
 Some universities feel that they have a responsibility
towards the socio-economic region they are located in.
 A responsibility which may involve helping to
enhance the region’s economic development, not only
by education but also in other ways.
 Many universities accept funding from industry and
engage in commercial activities.
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Commercialization
 Results of academic research which, not so long ago,
would have been made available in the public domain
for other researchers to build on, are increasingly
becoming the subjects of various kinds of intellectual
property rights, particularly (but not only) in
biomedical, chemical and engineering fields.
 The increase in industry funding of academic research
lead to the hampering of research, the skewing of
research priorities, and the risk of conflicts of interest
threatening the integrity of research.
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Commercialization
 Universities are becoming too business-like.
 Admittedly, it could be argued that additional income
for the universities makes them less dependent on
governments, but an unhealthy dependence on
industry may be more problematic in terms of
potential threats to academic freedom.
 Universities like businesses compete with each other,
make money and use their patents against other
universities.
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Commercialization and Ethics
 Tel Aviv University Buchman School of Law
 Could be worse, I imagine: Tel Aviv School of Morality.
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Plagiarism
 Twenty years ago, plagiarism was seen as an isolated
misdemeanour, restricted to a small group of mostly
students.
 Today it is widely recognized as a ubiquitous, systemic
issue, compounded by the accessibility of content in
the virtual environment.
 Companies make money by selling academic papers to
those who wish to pay their way.
 Papers are tailor-made to one’s needs and abilities.
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Plagiarism
 This might create a two-tier education system: One for
those who work and acquire education;
 another for those who pay to advance to the next stage
in life.
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Freedom of Extramural Expression
 Freedom of extramural expression refers to a
professor’s freedom to speak in public in her role as a
citizen in ways that are unrelated to professional
expertise.
 An example might be a professor of chemistry who
elects to speak out against the war in Afghanistan.
 The issue for analysis is whether and how professors
should be immune from sanction for such speech,
even if it causes damage to the university that employs
them.
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Freedom of Extramural Expression
 It is neither possible nor desirable to deprive a college
professor of the political rights vouchsafed to every
citizen.
 The American Statement of Principles on Academic
Freedom and Tenure of 1940 said:
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American Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and
Tenure
 “College and university teachers are citizens, members of a
learned profession, and officers of an education institution.
When they speak or write as citizens, they should be free
from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special
position in the community imposes special obligations. As
scholars and educational officers, they should remember
that the public may judge their profession and their
institution by their utterances. Hence they should at all
times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint,
should show respect for the opinions of others, and should
make very effort to indicate that they are not speaking for
the institution”.
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Holocaust denial
 Professor Arthur Butz, Northwestern University, uses
university server to put on a blog denying the Holocaust.
 In violation of the principles outlined above, shaking off
the special obligations: not accurate, without appropriate
restraint, confusing between him and his institution.
 That’s on purpose: To confer legitimacy on his ideas.
 Universities can insulate themselves from such a threat by
categorically disclaim any responsibility for the extramural
expression of their faculty.
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Political Boycott
 Academics should not discriminate against colleagues
on grounds of race, sex, religion, national or ethnic
group, or other personal characteristics.
 The story of Dr. Miriam Shlesinger.
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Thank you
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