Academic Freedom in Higher Education Core Value or Elite Privilege?

This timely book explores the challenges facing universities and individual scholars through an examination of the history and theory underlying the concept of academic freedom.

Freedom of speech is widely viewed as a central attribute of contemporary liberal democracies and within limits ? differing opinions can be articulated in public without fear of reprisal. Academic freedom, long regarded as central to the idea of the university is, on the other hand, a right which must be earned through the acquisition of expert knowledge and the application of intellectual rigor in teaching and research. Both hard-won freedoms are argued by many to be under serious threat. The expert contributors of this book, from all across the globe, examine both the importance of academic freedom and the severe threats universities face in this context in the 21st century. With its interdisciplinary approach and cross-national emphasis, central issues in this text are illustrated through detailed examination of case studies and consideration of wider developments in the academy. The contributors draw on a range of disciplines in their analyses and offer insights for an educated public that is hungry for examples and clear thinking about an issue of pressing, contemporary significance.

This timely resource will be of interest to staff and students across higher education and to members of the general public, who are puzzled by and trying to grapple with a growing and divisive issue that shows no signs of diminishing.

Part I: Academic freedom: the issues1. Introduction. Academic Freedom: core value or elite privilege?

2. Academic freedom and the dilemmas of the modern university

3. ‘Free speech’, academic freedom, and the Public Sphere: some reflections on principles

Part II: Academic freedom: case studies from British higher education (1945-1990)

4. Academic freedom, universities and the Left: a case study of British university adult education in the early years of the Cold War

5. The university as a contested space: ‘no platforming’ controversies at British universities, 1968-1990

Part III: Academic freedom: contrasting international experiences

6. Academic freedom under ideological attacks in Mexico

7. Beyond Western ideals: academic freedom, capabilities, and social knowledge

8. Selective academic freedom: the case of Hungary

Part IV: Academic freedom: contemporary themes and concluding reflections

9. Epistemic silences: the academic ‘precariat’ and academic freedom

10. Interrogating the implications of rankings, open science, and publishing for academic practice and academic freedom11. Concluding reflections on academic freedom

Maria Slowey is Emeritus Professor, Higher Education Research Centre, Dublin City University, Ireland and Visiting Professor, University of Florence, Italy.

Richard Taylor is Emeritus Professorial Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge University, UK.