Flawed Views of Academic Freedom at Stanford
The protection and furtherance of academic freedom is a core value of the AAUP. We must always be wary of attempts to silence those who may disagree with us,regardless of how inane, illogical, unscientific, fantastic, or politically unpopular (or popular) their views may be.
In today’s Academe Blog, John K. Wilson discussed a recent controversy concerning the Hoover Institution, a partisan political think-tank at Stanford University. The controversy erupted after three conservative members of the Hoover Institution asked that the faculty and the student newspaper be prevented from publishing views contrary to their own. They wanted censorship.
Wilson provides a thoughtful view of the issue, emphasizing that censorship can work both ways, i.e., blocking those with whom we agree, and those with whom we do not agree, from speaking out. Speech inciting riots should be censored, and laws exist to do so. But for many of us in academia (most?), it is vexing to endure the constant dissemination of lies and immoral and unethical views spewed out daily by the Trump administration, as well as by groups such as the Proud Boys and the believers of QAnon. Nevertheless, as vexing as this may be, the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the rights of these groups to do so.
Wilson’s balanced discussion of the Stanford incident is one that we all should consider.