Academic Freedom in the Age of the College
Title | Academic Freedom in the Age of the College PDF eBook |
Author | Richard Hofstadter |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 452 |
Release | 2017-11-30 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 1351288903 |
When this classic volume first appeared, academic freedom was a crucially important issue. It is equally so today. Hofstadter approaches the topic historically, showing how events from various historical epochs expose the degree of freedom in academic institutions. The volume exemplifies Richard Hofstader's qualities as a historian as well as his characteristic narrative ability. Hofstadter first describes the medieval university and how its political independence evolved from its status as a corporate body, establishing a precedent for intellectual freedom that has been a measuring rod ever since. He shows how all intellectual discourse became polarized with the onset of the Reformation. The gradual spread of the Moderate Enlightenment in the colonies led to a major advance for intellectual freedom. But with the beginning of the nineteenth century the rise of denominationalism in both new and established colleges reversed the progress, and the secularization of learning became engulfed by a tidal wave of intensifying piety. Roger L. Geiger's extensive new introduction evaluates Hofstadter's career as a historian and political theorist, his interest in academic freedom, and the continuing significance of Academic Freedom in the Age of the College. While most works about higher education treat the subject only as an agent of social economic mobility, Academic Freedom in the Age of the College is an enduring counterweight to such histories as it examines a more pressing issue: the fact that colleges and universities, at their best, should foster ideas at the frontiers of knowledge and understanding. This classic text will be invaluable to educators, university administrators, sociologist, and historians.
Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity
Title | Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity PDF eBook |
Author | Joanna Williams |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 219 |
Release | 2016-01-05 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 1137514795 |
Academic freedom is increasingly being threatened by a stifling culture of conformity in higher education that is restricting individual academics, the freedom of academic thought and the progress of knowledge – the very foundations upon which academia and universities are built. Once, scholars demanded academic freedom to critique existing knowledge and to pursue new truths. Today, while fondness for the rhetoric of academic freedom remains, it is increasingly criticised as an outdated and elitist concept by students and lecturers alike and called into question by a number of political and intellectual trends such as feminism, critical theory and identity politics. This provocative and compelling book traces the demise of academic freedom within the context of changing ideas about the purpose of the university and the nature of knowledge. The book argues that a challenge to this culture of conformity and censorship and a defence of academic free speech are needed for critique to be possible and for the intellectual project of evaluating existing knowledge and proposing new knowledge to be meaningful. This book is that challenge and a passionate call to arms for the power of academic thought today.
Academic Freedom in the Age of the University
Title | Academic Freedom in the Age of the University PDF eBook |
Author | Walter P. Metzger |
Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Pages | 244 |
Release | 1961 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 9780231085120 |
The Future of Academic Freedom
Title | The Future of Academic Freedom PDF eBook |
Author | Henry Reichman |
Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press |
Pages | 377 |
Release | 2019-04-02 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 142142858X |
Few issues are as hotly debated or misunderstood as academic freedom. Reichman's book sheds light on and brings clarity to those debates. Winner of the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award by the American Library Association Academic freedom—crucial to the health of American higher education—is threatened on many fronts. In The Future of Academic Freedom, a leading scholar equips us to defend academic freedom by illuminating its meaning, the challenges it faces, and its relation to freedom of expression. In the wake of the 2016 election, challenges to academic freedom have intensified, higher education has become a target of attacks by conservatives, and issues of free speech on campus have grown increasingly controversial. In this book, Henry Reichman cuts through much of the rhetoric to issue a clarion call on behalf of academic freedom as it has been defined and defended by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for over a hundred years. Along the way, he makes it clear that this is the issue of our day. Over the course of ten audacious essays, Reichman explores the theory, history, and contemporary practice of academic freedom. He pays attention to such varied concerns as the meddling of politicians and corporate trustees in curriculum and university governance, the role of online education, the impact of social media, the rights of student protesters and outside speakers, the relationship between collective bargaining and academic freedom, and the influence on research and teaching of ideologically motivated donors. Significantly, he debunks myths about the strength of the alleged opposition to free expression posed by student activism and shows that the expressive rights of students must be defended as part of academic freedom. Based on broad reading in such diverse fields as educational theory, law, history, and political science, as well as on the AAUP's own investigative reporting, The Future of Academic Freedom combines theoretical sweep with the practical experience of its author, a leader and activist in the AAUP who is an expert on campus free speech. The issues Reichman considers—which are the subjects of daily conversation on college and university campuses nationwide as well as in the media—will fascinate general readers, students, and scholars alike.
The Christian College and the Meaning of Academic Freedom
Title | The Christian College and the Meaning of Academic Freedom PDF eBook |
Author | William C. Ringenberg |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 326 |
Release | 2016-04-08 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1137398337 |
The Christian College and the Meaning of Academic Freedom is a study of the past record and current practice of the Protestant colleges in America in the quest to achieve intellectual honesty within academic community. William C. Ringenberg lays out the history of academic freedom in higher education in America, including its European antecedents, from the perspective of modern Christian higher education. He discusses the Christian values that provide context for the idea of academic freedom and how they have been applied to the nation's Christian colleges and universities. The book also dissects a series of recent case studies on the major controversial intellectual issues within and in, in some cases, about the Christian college community. Ringenberg ably analyzes the ways in which these academic institutions have evolved over time, outlining their efforts to evolve and remain relevant while maintaining their core values and historic identities.
Recommended Principles to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships
Title | Recommended Principles to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships PDF eBook |
Author | American Association of University Professors American Association of University Professors |
Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
Pages | 370 |
Release | 2014-02-15 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 0252096584 |
The reputation of a college or institution depends upon the integrity of its faculty and administration. Though budgets are important, ethics are vital, and a host of new ethical problems now beset higher education. From MOOCS and intellectual property rights to drug industry payments and conflicts of interest, this book offers AAUP policy language and best practices to deal with all the campus-wide challenges of today's corporate university: • Preserving the integrity of research and public respect for higher education • Eliminating and managing individual and institutional financial conflicts of interest • Maintaining unbiased hiring and recruitment policies • Establishing grievance procedures and due process rights for faculty, graduate students, and academic professionals • Mastering the complications of negotiations over patents and copyright • Assuring the ethics of research involving human subjects. In a time of dynamic change Recommended Principles to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships offers an indispensable and authoritative guide to sustaining integrity and tradition while achieving great things in twenty-first century academia.
Dirty Knowledge
Title | Dirty Knowledge PDF eBook |
Author | Julia Schleck |
Publisher | U of Nebraska Press |
Pages | 140 |
Release | 2022 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 1496229304 |
Dirty Knowledge explores the failure of traditional conceptions of academic freedom in the age of neoliberalism. While examining and rejecting the increasing tendency to view academic freedom as a form of free speech, Julia Schleck highlights the problem of basing academic freedom on employment protections like tenure at a time when such protections are being actively eliminated through neoliberalism's preference for gig labor. The argument traditionally made for such protections is that they help produce knowledge "for the public good" through the protected isolation of the Ivory Tower, where "pure" knowledge is sought and disseminated. In contrast, Dirty Knowledge insists that academic knowledge production is and has always been "dirty," deeply involved in the debates of its time and increasingly permeated by outside interests whose financial and material support provides some research programs with significant advantages over others. Schleck argues for a new vision of the university's role in society as one of the most important forums for contending views of what exactly constitutes a societal "good," warning that the intellectual monoculture encouraged by neoliberalism poses a serious danger to our collective futures and insisting on deliberate, material support for faculty research and teaching that runs counter to neoliberal values.