Academic Freedom in the United States
The establishment of the American Association of
University Professors [AAUP] in 1915 is significant both
as a culmination and as a beginning. It was the
culmination of tendencies toward professional selfconsciousness that had been operating for many
decades. It was the beginning of an era in which the
principles of academic freedom were codified, and in
which violations of academic freedom were systematically
investigated and penalized.
The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States (1955) by
Richard Hofstadter & Walter P. Metzger
Part II: The Age of the University by Walter P. Metzger
Academic Freedom in the United States
Academic freedom is not a strong beacon that illuminates
the entire university. It is rather a wavering flame of
recent historical development. It is an idea not widely
shared outside the academic world, and often
misunderstood, unappreciated, and undefended within
academia. Academic freedom is denied in theory and in
practice by much of the world most of the time . . . The
idea of academic freedom has been repeatedly
threatened since the modern university emerged 125
years ago. . . .
Zealotry & Academic Freedom (1995) by Neil Hamilton
Academic Freedom in the United States
“Big Picture” Questions:
1) Where did the concept come from?
2) Who have been the major opponents &
defenders of it?
3) Is it applied to institutions or individuals?
Instructors or students?
4) What is the relationship between academic
freedom & First Amendment rights?
Chronology:
Sectarian Colleges (1636-1870s)
The Gilded Age & Progressivism (1870s-1920s)
The Great War & Jingoism (1910s-1920s)
The Great Depression & Communism (1930s)
The Cold War & McCarthyism (1940s-50s)
The “New Left” & Student Activism (1960s-70s)
Culture Wars & Political Correctness (late 1980s+)
Historical Context:
Industrialization & urbanization
Professionalization & specialization
Modern Research Universities (late 19th c.)
Johns Hopkins (1876)  Göttingen at Baltimore
Number of doctorates @ American institutions
Lernfreiheit & Lehrfreiheit
Organizing Expertise:
Modern Language Association of America (1883)
American Historical Association (1884)
American Economic Association (1885)
Geological Society of America (1888)
American Mathematical Society (1888)
American Psychological Association (1892)
American Physical Society (1899)
American Philosophical Association (1900)
American Anthropological Association (1902)
American Political Science Association (1903)
American Sociological Association (1905)
Academic Freedom: Professors, Trustees, & Public
Richard T. Ely, professor of economics, University of Wisconsin (1910)
The American Economic Association took a stand at its organization for entire
freedom of discussion. We were thoroughly devoted to the ideal of the German
university—Lehrfreiheit and Lernfreiheit; and we have not hesitated to enter the
lists vigorously in favor of freedom when we have considered it endangered.
D. B. Purinton, “Academic Freedom from the Trustees’ Point of View” (1909)
In case the published doctrines of an instructor in a state institution are plainly
subversive of the state, of society or good morals, the trustees cannot sustain
the instructor in such doctrines.
“The Philadelphia Martyr,” editorial, New York Times (October 10, 1915)
Academic freedom, that is, the inalienable right of every college instructor to
make a fool of himself and of his college by . . . intemperate, sensational prattle
about every subject under heaven, to his classes and to the public, and still keep
on the payroll or be reft therefrom only by elaborate process, is cried to all the
winds by the organized dons.
Academic Freedom: 19th century Cases
(1886) Henry Carter Adams, economist, Cornell University: not
reappointed after lecture critical of industrialists following Haymarket riots
(1894) Richard T. Ely, economist, University of Wisconsin: tried for
believing in “strikes & boycotts, justifying and encouraging the one while
practicing the other.”
(1895) Edward W. Bemis, economist, University of Chicago: dismissed
for championing anti-monopoly views in a speech critical of the railroad
companies during the Pullman strike.
(1896) John R. Commons, economist, Indiana University: dismissed
because of economic views.
(1900) Edward A. Ross, economist, Stanford University: dismissed for
opinions on silver & coolie immigration
(1903) John S. Bassett, historian, Trinity College (N.C.): threatened with
dismissal for article on the “Negro problem”
AAUP’s “General Declaration of Principles of Academic Freedom” (1915)
AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom & Academic Tenure
Edwin R.A. Seligman (Economics), Columbia University, Chairman
Charles E. Bennett (Latin), Cornell University
James Q. Dealey (Political Science), Brown University
Richard T. Ely (Economics), University of Wisconsin
Henry W. Farnam (Political Science), Yale University
Frank A. Fetter (Economics), Princeton University
Franklin H. Giddings (Sociology), Columbia University
Charles A. Kofoid (Zoology), University of California
Arthur O. Lovejoy (Philosophy), The Johns Hopkins University
Frederick W. Padelford (English), University of Washington
Roscoe Pound (Law), Harvard University
Howard C. Warren (Psychology), Princeton University
Ulysses G. Weatherly (Sociology), Indiana University
AAUP’s “General Declaration of Principles of Academic Freedom” (1915)
Linked Academic Freedom to Three Requirements:
1) Needs for academic research
2) Adequate instruction
3) Development of experts for public service
Major Threats to Academic Freedom:
1) Governmental favor
2) Tyranny of Public opinion
Limits of Academic Freedom:
1) Neutrality & competence [professional expertise]
2) Assumed immaturity of students
Academic Ideals: Neutrality & Competence
William Rainey Harper, President of University of Chicago (1900)
A professor abuses his privilege who takes advantage of a classroom
exercise to propagate the partisan views of one or another of the political
parties.
A professor abuses his privilege who in any way seeks to influence his
pupils or the public by sensational methods.
A professor abuses his privilege of expression of opinion when, although
a student and perhaps an authority in one department or group of
departments, he undertakes to speak authoritatively on subjects which
have no relationship to the department in which he was appointed to give
instruction.
A professor abuses his privilege in many cases when, altho shut off in
large measure from the world and engaged within a narrow field of
investigation, he undertakes to instruct his colleagues or the public
concerning matters in the world at large in connection with which he has
had little or no experience.
Academic Ideals: Neutrality & Competence
Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University (1898)
It is not the function of the teacher to settle philosophical and political
controversies for the pupil, or even to recommend to him any one set of
opinions as better than any other. Exposition, not imposition, of opinions
is the professor’s part. The student should be made acquainted will all
sides of these controversies . . . The very word “education” is a standing
protest against dogmatic teaching. The notion that education consists in
the authoritative inculcation of what the teacher deems true may be
logical and appropriate in a convent, but it is intolerable in universities
and the public schools . . .
Related Web Resources
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
Students for Academic Freedom (SAF)
American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
Free Speech on Public College Campuses (First
Amendment Center)
College Freedom (A website about Academic Freedom)