The Chronicle: Scholars See Need to Redefine and Protect Academic Freedom
Existing threats to academic freedom have been exacerbated by the political and economic climate following the terrorist attacks of September, 11, 2001, argued scholars at a conference held at New York University’s new Frederic Ewen Academic Freedom Center at Tamiment Library on Thursday and Friday.
The conference, “Academic Freedom in an Age of Permanent Warfare,” was the inaugural public event at the center, which was established at the university last year.
A number of speakers noted that academic freedom was under strenuous attack long before the 2001 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The attenuation of tenure, comprehensive changes in university governance, and an increase in organized attempts from outside academe to influence research and hiring decisions had already altered long-held norms of academic freedom in American colleges and universities. But there was a consensus among participants that the changes in society and the university had become so profound that the entire notion of academic freedom and how to defend it are in need of revision.
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