Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism.
Academic freedom is often premised on the conviction that freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without the fear of being repressed, losing their job or being imprisoned. While the core of academic freedom covers scholars acting in an academic capacity, an expansive interpretation extends these occupational safeguards to scholars' speech on matters outside their professional expertise.
Academic tenure protects academic freedom by ensuring that teachers can be fired only for causes such as gross professional incompetence or behavior that evokes condemnation from the academic community itself.
Historically, academic freedom emerged tentatively, as academics in medieval and early modern Europe could face repression for acting in ways considered objectionable by religious authorities or by governments. Scholars tend to link the institutionalization of academic freedom to the rise of the modern research university and the Humboldtian model of higher education from the 19th century. By one estimate, academic freedom has substantially increased worldwide since the 1960s. Academic freedom is more likely in liberal democratic states, while it is more heavily constrained in authoritarian states, illiberal states, and states embroiled in military conflict. Since 2013, while some countries have seen improvements to academic freedom, the overall trend is towards reductions in freedom.
Definition
A minimal definition of academic freedom is that a teacher has a right to instruct, and a student has a right to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. Other definitions include the right of teachers to engage in social and political criticism.A broader definition of academic freedom incorporates individual, extramural and institutional components. Under this broader definition, an academic has freedom of expression without government interference, but this freedom is circumscribed by academic expertise and position. Academic freedom of speech is therefore narrower than a general freedom of speech. For example, a non-academic has the freedom of speech to criticize the efficacy of vaccines, but only has academic freedom to do so if they possess the prerequisite academic qualifications to do so. Unlike public speech, academic speech is also subject to quality controls by academic peers, for example through peer review.
Universities UK has defined academic freedom as "protecting the intellectual independence of academics to question and test received views and wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions, without placing themselves in danger of losing their jobs or privileges", while the American Federation of Teachers has seen it as "based on the idea that the free exchange of ideas on campus is essential to good education". Norwegian education sees it as a guarantee that research and teaching is "intellectually and morally independent of all political and economic interests", leading to openness, free enquiry and debate.
Historical background
Historically, academic freedom emerged tentatively. However, some scholars, such as Richard Hofstadter and Walter Metzger contend that academic freedom is "a modern term for an ancient idea" and "can be traced at least as far back as Socrates' eloquent defense of himself again the charge of corrupting the youth of Athens."In medieval Europe, academics who criticized church doctrine or acted in ways considered objectionable by the church could face repression. At the same time, civil disturbances, such as the St Scholastica Day riot at the University of Oxford often led to great autonomy for universities. And even those scholars who committed theological heresy, such as John Wyclif and Jan Hus, has support due to their roles as faculty at a university.
During the era when nation-states were emerging, academics could face sanction for acting contrary to the government.
19th century
Academic freedom began to gain institutional footing with the emergence of the modern research university. The Humboldtian model of higher education from the 19th century enshrined the basic ideas of academic freedom and diffused them to other countries. Wilhelm von Humboldt was a philosopher and linguist who was given the authority to create a new university in Berlin in the early 19th century. He then founded a university that adhered to two principles of academic freedom: freedom of scientific inquiry and the unity between research and teaching. According to Humboldt, the fundamental proposition underlying the principles of academic freedom was to uphold the view that science is not something that has already been found but as knowledge that will never be fully discovered and, yet, needs to be searched for unceasingly. The university he founded later became a model and inspiration for modern colleges in Germany and universities in the West.20th century
The concept of academic freedom was also formulated in response to the encroachments of the totalitarian state on science and academia in general for the furtherance of its own goals. For instance, in the Soviet Union, scientific research was brought under strict political control in the 1930s. A number of research areas were declared "bourgeois pseudoscience" and forbidden, notably genetics and sociology. Marxist scientist John Desmond Bernal characterized this as part of the interdependence between "applied science" and "pure science".Michael Polanyi argued that a structure of liberty is essential for the advancement of science. In 1936, as a consequence of an invitation to give lectures for the Ministry of Heavy Industry in the USSR, Polanyi met Bukharin, who told him that in socialist societies all scientific research is directed to accord with the needs of the latest five-year plan. Demands in Britain for centrally planned scientific research led Polanyi, together with John Baker, to found the Society for Freedom in Science. The society promoted a liberal conception of science as free enquiry against the instrumental view that science should exist primarily to serve the needs of society. In a series of articles, re-published in The Contempt of Freedom and The Logic of Liberty, Polanyi claimed that co-operation among scientists is analogous to the way in which agents co-ordinate themselves within a free market. Just as consumers in a free market determine the value of products, science is a spontaneous order that arises as a consequence of open debate among specialists. Science can therefore only flourish when scientists have the liberty to pursue truth as an end in itself:
Rationale
Proponents of academic freedom believe that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy. They argue that academic communities are repeatedly targeted for repression due to their ability to shape and control the flow of information. When scholars attempt to teach or communicate ideas or facts that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities, they may find themselves targeted for public vilification, job loss, imprisonment, or even death. For example, in North Africa, a professor of public health discovered that his country's infant mortality rate was higher than government figures indicated. He lost his job and was imprisoned.The fate of biology in the Soviet Union is cited by Jasper Becker as a reason why society has an interest in protecting academic freedom. Also it is important to make the distinction between science and pseudoscience, on the border of this lies the case of a Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko rejected Western science – then focused primarily on making advances in theoretical genetics, based on research with the fruit fly – and proposed an approach to farming that was based on the collectivist principles of dialectical materialism. Lysenko called this "Michurinism", but it is more commonly known today as Lysenkoism, and named after him. Lysenko's ideas appealed to the Soviet leadership, in part because of their value as propaganda, and he was ultimately made director of the Soviet Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Subsequently, Lysenko directed a purge of scientists who professed "harmful ideas", resulting in the expulsion, imprisonment, or death of hundreds of Soviet scientists. Lysenko's ideas were then implemented on collectivized farms in the Soviet Union and China. Famines that resulted partly from Lysenko's influence are believed to have killed 30 million people in China alone during the Great Leap Forward.
Sociologist Ruth Pearce argued that the concept of academic freedom exists to protect scholarship from censure by state or religious authorities, and not to defend intolerance.
A large-scale empirical study, covering more than 157 countries over the 1900-2015 period, links academic freedom to the quality and quantity of patents filed in a given country. David Audretsch and colleagues estimate that academic freedom has declined over the last decade for the first time over their century-long observation period, resulting in at least 4% fewer patents filed. The study claims to be the first to link academic freedom to economic growth through an innovation channel.
Academic freedom has also been identified as a leading indicator for whether a government will become more or less democratic.
Academic Freedom Index
In 2020, V-dem institute partnered with Scholars at Risk to create the first index of Academic freedom. The index provides retroactive ratings for countries going back to 1900 that are also updated yearly. The index estimates academic freedom using five categories that follow the UNESCO definition:- freedom to research and teach
- freedom of academic exchange and dissemination
- institutional autonomy
- campus integrity
- freedom of academic and cultural expression