October 14th, 2014
Steven
Salaita was offered a position in the American Indian Studies Program at the
University of Illinois. Following a slew of tweets by the former Virginia Tech
professor which were overtly oppositional to Israeli military policy, the
University of Illinois rescinded their offer to Salaita—which has prompted a
firestorm of controversy inside higher education and in the mass media.
And
rightfully so.
Salaita
contends that as a scholar his academic freedom was unilaterally violated. The
notion of academic freedom is the central tenant of academic life. Now, I’m not
here to speak to the merits of Salaita’s argument—in fact, I may not agree with
some of the things he tweeted; however, I believe that if we allow the
University of Illinois, generally, and Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the
university system, specifically, to debase the basic notion of academic
freedom, the implications for society at-large are replete.
Academic
freedom is the belief that university faculty should be free from reprisal in
their academic pursuits; that if their views or research are controversial,
they should be insulated from the discordant philosophies, and prevailing
social and political winds of the day. Why does this matter? If the greatest
minds among us feel compelled to hedge their arguments, refrain from certain
avenues of inquiry, or placate to public opinion—we’re all the worse because of
it.
Steven
Salaita was offered a position in the American Indian Studies Program
at the University of Illinois. Following a slew of tweets by the former
Virginia Tech professor which were overtly oppositional to Israeli
military policy, the University of Illinois rescinded their offer to
Salaita—which has prompted a firestorm of controversy inside higher
education and in the mass media.
And rightfully so.
Salaita contends that as a scholar his
academic freedom was unilaterally violated. The notion of academic
freedom is the central tenant of academic life. Now, I’m not here to
speak to the merits of Salaita’s argument—in fact, I may not agree with
some of the things he tweeted; however, I believe that if we allow the
University of Illinois, generally, and Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the
university system, specifically, to debase the basic notion of academic
freedom, the implications for society at-large are replete.
Academic freedom is the belief that
university faculty should be free from reprisal in their academic
pursuits; that if their views or research are controversial, they should
be insulated from the discordant philosophies, and prevailing social
and political winds of the day. Why does this matter? If the greatest
minds among us feel compelled to hedge their arguments, refrain from
certain avenues of inquiry, or placate to public opinion—we’re all the
worse because of it.
- See more at: http://valdostatoday.com/2014/10/opinion-our-collective-conscience-under-attack/#sthash.RuEfz4FR.dpuf
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