It ought to be well-recognized that individual faculty members must be free to state controversial political views, and the same is true for groups or organizations of academics (so long as the statements do not imply “unfitness” to teach in the relevant discipline). But what about political declarations by entire academic departments? As I have explained, an avowed participant in anti-Israel academic boycotts should not be able to serve as a dean, because such a boycott itself can violate the academic freedom of other faculty and students. Does the same hold true when a department states an official position on a controversial political issue, such as the Israel/Palestine conflict?
This guest post by Cary Nelson, emeritus professor at the University of Illinois and former president of the AAUP, sets out the reasons why academic departments should not take official political positions, as he and over forty colleagues explained in a letter to the chancellor and provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The letter itself was written by Professor Richard Ross of the UIUC law school.
Prof. Nelson is working on a detailed account to rebut the "fiction of departmental academic freedom" and to draft a model university policy. Here is the gist of the group letter to the UIUC administration:
The distinction between individual and departmental speech is critical.
First, an academic unit that engages in political advocacy chills robust debate and potentially intimidates scholars who think differently. Can a student expect open inquiry in an environment of mutual respect if his or her department publicly commits to one side in the complicated Israeli-Palestinian dispute? Can a department that calls for the boycott and sanction of Israel (in violation of University policy) study Israeli perspectives as well as Palestinian ones? If a unit denounces Israel in inflammatory prose and promises “solidarity with Palestine,” only a brave untenured faculty member would dare voice a contrary position. Graduate students whose careers can be hurt by the withdrawal of mentorship, adjunct faculty on one-year contracts, undergraduates concerned about grades and recommendations, and academic professionals with the minimal protections of “at will” employees would need to summon even greater bravery to dissent.
The entire letter is after the jump. Tomorrow, I will post the UIUC administration’s rather troubling reply.
[Note: this post has been updated by adding Prof. Richard Ross as the drafter of the letter to the administration.]
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