Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the University
Many of us, on campuses and beyond, have been monitoring and condemning
the recent attacks on academic freedom, including the ever more
aggressive incursion of partisan politics into universities’ hiring and
tenure practices. Today a diverse group of academics and other
concerned individuals are joining together to collectively mark our
resistance to the current abrogation of academic freedom. We are
circulating the petition below and asking for both signatures of
support and financial contributions to underwrite the expense of publishing the
statement, with the names of its proponents, as a full page ad in the
New York Times.
If you would like to join this ad hoc committee, please let us know
immediately (defend.university@gmail.com ) and send a signed word of
confirmation, your institutional affiliation if any, and your
contribution, made out to the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the
University,
c/o Joan Scott, at P.O. Box 240 Princeton New Jersey, 08540.
Visit our page at
http://defend.university.googlepages.com/home , where we are
maintaining a set of links to relevant reports and web sites, as well as a list of
signatories.
Please pass this message on to as many friends and colleagues as
possible.
Defend the University Organizing Committee: Joan Scott, Edmund Burke,
Jeremy Adelman, Steven Caton, & Jonathan Cole
The Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the University’s Petition
In recent years, universities across the country have been targeted by
outside groups seeking to influence what is taught and who can teach.
To achieve their political agendas, these groups have defamed scholars,
pressured administrators, and tried to bypass or subvert established
procedures of academic governance. As a consequence, faculty have been
denied jobs or tenure, and scholars have been denied public platforms
from which to share their viewpoints. This violates an important
principle of scholarship, the free exchange of ideas, subjecting them
to ideological and political tests. These attacks threaten academic
freedom and the core mission of institutions of higher education in a
democratic society.
Unfortunately and ironically, many of the most vociferous campaigns
targeting universities and their faculty have been launched by groups
portraying themselves as defenders of Israel. These groups have
targeted scholars who have expressed perspectives on Israeli policies
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with which they disagree. To
silence those they consider their political enemies, they have used a
range of tactics such as:
* unfounded insinuations and allegations, in the media and on websites,
of anti-Semitism or sympathy for terrorism or “un-Americanism;”
* efforts to broaden definitions of anti-Semitism to include
scholarship and teaching that is critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East
and of Israel;
* pressures on university administrations by threatening to withhold
donations if faculty they have targeted are hired or awarded tenure;
* campaigns to deny scholars the opportunity to present their views to
the wider public;
* the promotion of efforts to restrict federal funding for area studies
programs and the teaching of critical languages on political grounds;
* lawsuits in the name of the “right” of individual students not to
hear ideas that may challenge or contradict their beliefs;
* and demands in the name of “balance” and “diversity” that those with
whom they disagree be prevented from speaking unless paired with
someone whose viewpoint they approve of.
The suppression of free speech undermines academic freedom and subverts
the norms of academic life. It poses a serious threat to institutions
of higher education in the United States. The university should be a
place where different interpretations can be explored and competing
ideas exchanged. Academic freedom means not only the right to pursue a
variety of interpretations, but the maintenance of standards of truth
and acceptability by one’s peers. It is university faculty, not outside
political groups with partisan political agenda, who are best able to
judge the quality of their peers’ research and teaching. This is not
just a question of academic autonomy, but of the future of a democratic
society. This is a time in which we need more thoughtful reflection
about the world, not less.
A study by a Harvard sociologist last summer found that “a greater
percentage of social scientists today feels their academic freedom has
been threatened than was the case during the McCarthy era.” It is time
to defend the norms of scholarship and the best traditions of the
academy.
We, the undersigned, therefore pledge:
* to speak out against those who attack our colleagues and our
universities in order to achieve their political goals;
* to urge university administrators and trustees to defend academic
freedom and the norms of academic life, even if it means incurring the
displeasure of non-scholarly groups, the media among them;
* to vigorously promote our views in the media and through the
Internet,
and to explain the importance of academic freedom to a sustainable and
vibrant democracy;
* to mobilize our students to defend the values and integrity of their
institutions.
The future of higher education in America, its role in our country’s
democracy, and its contribution to world affairs is at stake. We call
upon all citizens to join us in defending it!
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