Topics and Cases

Here is a curated list of additional readings pertaining to different aspects of academic freedom. They are curated in such a way that they could be added to the syllabus module.

These readings offer the opportunity to think through what academic freedom means, and its limits, by examining specific topics.

1. Academic Freedom in the Classroom

While a bit dated, this piece offers an extended hypothetical about professor and student actions within the classroom, offering an opportunity to think through what does (and does not) count as academic freedom.

• Gary Pavela, “A Balancing Act: Competing Claims for Academic Freedom,” Academe, Vol. 87, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 2001), pp. 21-25.

2. Academic Freedom and Contingent Faculty

• Henry Reichman, “Do Adjuncts Have Academic Freedom? Or Why Tenure Matters,” Academe, Winter 2021.
• Shawn Gilmore, “Are We Really Supporting the Inclusion of Contingent Faculty in Governance?,” Academe, Fall 2021.

3. Committee Reports on Violations of Academic Freedom and Shared Governance

The AAUP has published many reports chronicling attacks on academic freedom in different forms. Including any of these three reports in a class would provide the opportunity to discuss how systemic pressures on academic institutions weaken academic freedom.

Concerning COVID-19 Responses:

• AAUP, “Special Report: COVID-19 and Academic Governance.” May 2021.

In North Carolina:

• AAUP, “Report of a Special Committee: Governance, Academic Freedom, and Institutional Racism in the University of North Carolina System.” April 2022.

In Florida:

• AAUP, “Report of a Special Committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System.” December 2023.

4. Academic Freedom and Medical Schools

• AAUP. 1999. “Academic Freedom in the Medical School,” June.

5. Academic Freedom and Political Repression

• Ellen Schrecker, “Political Repression and the AAUP from 1915 to the Present,” Academe, Fall 2023.
• ASA “Resolution on Defending Academic Freedom Against Attacks on 'Critical Race Theory'" Feb 10, 2022
• Butler, Judith. 2022. “Endangered Scholarship, Academic Freedom, and the Life of Critique.” Critical Times, vol. 5, no. 2, 399-425.

6. Academic Freedom and Palestine

• Schotten, Heike, “Against Academic Freedom: ‘Terrorism,’ Settler Colonialism, and Palestinian Liberation,” Enforcing Silence: Academic Freedom, Palestine and the Criticism of Israel, Zed Books: 2020.
• Jairo Funez-Flores, “The Coloniality of Academic Freedom and the Palestine Exception,” Middle East Critique, July 2024.
• Salaita, Steven. 2015. Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom. Chicago: Haymarket Books

7. Re-framings of Academic Freedom

• Eli Meyerhoff and Isaac Kamola, “Freedom to Learn and Academic Freedom for All!,” Academe Blog, October 11, 2023.
• Chuh, Kandice, “Pedagogies of Dissent” American Quarterly 2018
• Magna Charta Observatory, “Magna Charta 1988.”