Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy in American and Australian Universities: a Twenty-First Century Dialogue and a Call to Leaders
ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND INSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY IN AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES: A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY DIALOGUE AND A CALL TO LEADERS PATRICK D. PAUKEN† BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY, USA Within the context of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and ultimately with respect to the important roles played by university leaders, this article explores the current dialogue among American and Australian university players, both individual and institutional, as those players search for, develop, define, modify, and proclaim their respective voices and messages, particularly in a world where the role and position of universities are changing. I INTRODUCTION In 1964, Marvin L. Pickering, a public school teacher in Illinois, wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper criticising his board of education for the board’s appropriation of funds and its handling of two failed tax levy campaigns. The board countered with accusations that the statements in the letter were false and had a negative impact on the efficient operation of the schools. The board of education then fired Pickering.1 Meanwhile, in Australia, administrators at the University of Sydney vetoed the appointment of philosophy professor Frank Knopfelmacher after he exposed Communist infiltration in some of the academic units at the University of Melbourne.2 Fast forward to 2005. Ward Churchill, faculty member in the University of Colorado’s ethnic studies department, came under significant fire on campus and throughout the United States for his written and spoken arguments that, among other comments, the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were ‘little Eichmanns’ and presumably deserved their fate.
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