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The American Association of University Professors recently issued a statement on Attacks on Academic Freedom and the Independence of Colleges and Universities:

The Ninety-first Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors expresses its deep concern over increased attacks on the academic freedom of teachers and scholars across the nation and the resulting threat these attacks pose to the tradition of institutional independence in American higher education. Individuals and groups outside the academic community, among them state officials, members of Congress, and candidates for political office, are, with increasing frequency, invoking an alleged political or ideological bias within the academic profession as the rationale for involving themselves with the substance of academic decisions and with the content of curriculum and teaching that have been traditionally and appropriately determined by members of the academic community. In some instances, these attacks have been marked by reprehensible tactics of intimidation and harassment.

This Meeting takes special notice of so-called academic bills of rights that have been introduced in at least one-fourth of state legislatures. These bills would, in effect, replace academic standards with political criteria for determining whether the faculty of a college or university is fostering a plurality of perspectives. Even when the pressures for them do not result in the passage of undesirable legislation, they represent a gratuitous and irresponsible disrespect for faculties in higher education and for the immense contribution they make to the betterment of our national life.

This interference in activities intrinsic to the academic community is anathema to this Association and to society at large, which can only benefit when academic freedom is preserved.

(Posted 6/15/05)