November/December 2009

Derision of a different sort
St. Louis University is being derided by free speech supporters for its role in blocking an October presentation on campus by David Horowitz. Campus chapters of the College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation had invited the conservative activist to speak on the topic of “Islamo-Fascism and Civil Rights.” The Roman Catholic-affiliated university asked the student group to change the presentation—or at least expand the lineup to include other views. The end result was that Horowitz’s speech was cancelled. In a statement, the university said it was concerned that the original program “could be viewed as attacking another faith and seeking to cause derision on campus.” Horowitz tends to paint broad connections with Islamic faith and terrorism. But SLU’s equally broad action opened it up for criticism: “A campus that enforces ideological conformity supports indoctrination, not education,” says a statement from the American Association of University Professors.

Bedside Reading
Readers of the Academic Freedom Forum might want to go out and pick up Professors Matthew Finkin and Robert Post’s latest book, For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom. Finkin and Post trace the development of this concept through the 20th Century, and the book provides valuable context for the continuing skirmishes around academic freedom.

Not funny
The Yale University Press has been under fire from civil liberty and anti-censorship groups (including Free Exchange on Campus coalition members American Association of University Professors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association) for removing all images of the Prophet Muhammad from Brandeis professor Jytte Klausen’s academic work The Cartoons That Shook the World. A letter from National Coalition Against Censorship notes that the “decision compromises the principle and practice of academic freedom, undermines the independence of the Press, damages the University’s credibility, and diminishes its reputation for scholarship.… Giving in to the fear of violence only emboldens those who use threats to achieve their ends. This misguided action establishes a dangerous precedent that threatens academic and intellectual freedom around the world.”

Yale’s own alumni are upset, reports the Yale Daily News, and a group has formed the Yale Committee for a Free Press. In a letter requesting that the book be reprinted with the censored cartoons included, the committee says, “Yale must not be the arbiter of what is ‘safe’ to publish. Such censorship corrodes the intellectual freedom that is the foundation of the entire university community.”

Snitch month
October was Turn-a-Leftist-Prof-In Month on the Web site of a new group that has popped up promising to fight “liberal bias” on college campuses. College Reform is a project of the right-wing Leadership Institute (you can learn about the Leadership Institute in Free Exchange on Campus’ Manufactured Controversy publication). The Web site provides opportunities to “report leftist abuse” and promises assistance to help students “take back your campus.” To get things started, for one report a day, it paid $100. You can keep an eye on Campus Reform via their Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/campus_reform.