Free Republic

Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom have pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, it is students who are invoking academic freedom, claiming biased professors are violating their right to a classroom free from indoctrination. For example, at the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sued over a reading assignment they said offended their Christian beliefs. In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicized student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty received hate mail and were pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college...

Making its break from reality official, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) named as its new chief a college administrator who is famous for sponsoring conferences on sex at a state university. Last year, the AAUP objected when the University of South Florida dismissed a professor that the U.S. government arrested for working with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Additionally, the AAUP has consistently opposed the Academic Bill of Rights constructed by Students for Academic Freedom. “The danger of such guidelines is that they invite diversity to be measured by political standards that diverge from the academic criteria of the...

The American Association of University Professors prides itself on being a guardian of academic freedom. There is a sound historical basis for this pride beginning with its famous report of 1915, which launched the academic freedom tradition. Through the 1970s its Academic Freedom Committee developed principles and guidelines that have been adopted by American universities to protect the intellectual independence of their faculties. As early as the 1915 report, the AAUP also recognized the academic freedom rights of students. However, as a guild organization whose members are professors, it is not surprising that the AAUP has not been so mindful...

Professors for SamiBy David TellWeekly Standard | June 18, 2003 THE QUESTION raised by our editorial in last week's issue--whether the American Association of University Professors would "censure" the University of South Florida for having fired indicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad chieftain Sami Al-Arian--has been resolved. Sort of. Temporarily. Winding up their 89th annual meeting here in Washington on Saturday, roughly 300 AAUP delegates from around the country spent about 90 minutes debating a final, advisory report on the matter by the Association's "Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure." That report was harshly critical of President Judy Genshaft and other...

The Sami Al-Arian controversy has brought the University of South Florida costly legal action, embarrassing national attention and a rift that divided the campus. Today, the school will learn if its decision to fire Al-Arian has earned it another black eye. A national group influential in higher education will decide whether to censure USF for violating the tenured professor's academic rights. The American Association of University Professors already has concluded that USF shouldn't have fired Al-Arian before he had a chance to defend himself in court against federal charges of terrorism. The question now is whether the school will be...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A national group influential in higher education condemned the University of South Florida on Saturday for firing a professor charged with terrorism, but stopped short of issuing a potentially damaging censure.The American Association of University Professors passed the resolution at a meeting in Washington, condemning university President Judy Genshaft for firing Sami Al-Arian without a hearing before his faculty peers, said association spokeswoman Ruth Flower.Although the school avoided a censure, association members ordered a committee to reconsider action that could come when the entire group meets again next year.``I think that the intention is ... definitely...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A national group influential in higher education condemned the University of South Florida on Saturday for firing a professor charged with terrorism, but stopped short of issuing a potentially damaging censure. The American Association of University Professors passed the resolution at a meeting in Washington, condemning university President Judy Genshaft for firing Sami Al-Arian without a hearing before his faculty peers, said association spokeswoman Ruth Flower. Although the school avoided a censure, association members ordered a committee to reconsider action that could come when the entire group meets again next year. "I think that the intention...

There are lots of trade groups in Washington. While most trade groups lobby on behalf of their members' economic interests (more than often to protect market distortions, such as subsidies and monopolies), few make explicit intellectual goals the cornerstone of their activities. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which claims to represent around 45,000 "academic professionals" (including librarians) at the nation's institutions of higher learning and whose official motto is "Academic Freedom for a Free Society," is a notably significant exception. And for a good reason: the AAUP is the Beltway voice of the tenured, Left-leaning academia and its...