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DAVID A. HOLLINGER, ANNE D. NEAL, AND BRUCE ROBBINS Responses to the AAC&U Statement Following are three solicited responses to the AAC&UStatement on Academic Freedom and C Educational Responsibility. Readers are strongly I P encouraged to contribute additional responses O online at www.aacu.org/liberaleducation, T D where they will be published as they are received. E R U A Response from David A. Hollinger to promote the critical evaluationof such ideas T A ACADEMICFREEDOMis an institutionally spe- and to resist the pressure to treat as valid ideas E cific type of liberty. It gains its character from discredited by the rules of evidence and reasoning. F the rules of evidence and reasoning used by Perhaps the AAC&Ustatement can help communities of scien- more of the public understand the structure of tists and scholars to cognitive authority by which institutions of determine the relative value of truth-claims. higher learning properly operate. This structure Perhaps the AAC&U One of finest virtues of the Association of of cognitive authority is imperfectly understood statement can American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) by many of academia’s critics, yet it is the foun- Statement on Academic Freedom and Educa- dation for “peer review” throughout the learned help more of the tional Responsibility is that it articulates this world. This structure of cognitive authority can public understand basic insight so clearly. AAC&Uinsists upon be envisaged as a series of concentric circles of the structure of the responsibility of educational institutions accountability. In order to maintain its stand- to defend academic professionalism and to make ing in the learned world as a whole, any partic- cognitive authority its methods of thought available to students. ular disciplinary or subdisciplinary community by which institutions Too often, academic freedom is conflated must keep the communitiesnearest to it per- of higher learning with free speech. This closely allied ideal suaded that it is behaving responsibly. It must properly operate transcends colleges and universities, and for also, partly by being able to point to the support all its glory does not speak directly to the par- of these neighboring communities, diminish ticular role of institutions designed for the ad- whatever skepticism about its operations might vancement and dissemination of knowledge. arise in more distant parts of the learned Happily, the defense of academic freedom of- world and beyond, in the society that scien- fered by AAC&Ureminds its readers repeatedly tists and scholars do, after all, serve. that colleges and universities are obliged by the So the structure of cognitive authority moves idea of academic freedom not to supportthe out from particle physics to physics to natural uncritical expression of any and all ideas, but science to science to the learned world as a whole, and then to the most informed mem- DAVID A. HOLLINGER, the Preston Hotchkis bers of the public. The farther you get from Professor of History at the University of California– the technical particulars of the field, the less Berkeley, is the chair of the American Association authority you have to decide what should be of University Professors Committee on Academic going on; but, in a democratic society, there Freedom and Tenure. ANNE D. NEALis president is some authority distributed all the way out. of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. It is the job of deans and provosts to keep BRUCE ROBBINSis professor of English and com- abreast of these transdisciplinary conversations, parative literature at Columbia University. and to pressure particular departments and 14 LIBERAL EDUCATION SPRING 2006 University of California– Berkeley schools to change their way of doing things— A Response from Anne D. Neal C I to achieve, indeed, balance—if the parts of NEARLYTWENTYYEARSAGO,Yale University P the learned world most qualified to judge are president Benno Schmidt (1991) observed O T truly dubious about their research programs that “the most serious problems of freedom of and their attendant teaching and public expression in our society today exist on our D E service activities. campuses.” It has taken a long time for the R This informal structure of cognitive author- higher education community to face this fact. U ity has been illuminated by my late Berkeley It is easy to perceive, and even to exaggerate, T A colleague Bernard Williams in Truth and threats from the outside. It is much easier to E Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy,the book minimize, and even to deny, threats from within. F he published shortly before his death. The statement organized by the American Williams reminds us that the entry fee into a Council on Education and endorsed by the learned discourse includes extensive and rig- Association of American Colleges and Uni- orous training, and earning of the attention of versities (AAC&U)on June 23, 2005, is a one’s professional peers through the accep- step, albeit ambiguous, in the direction of fac- tance, in argumentation, of certain forms of ing facts. The AAC&U Statement on Acade- reasoning and certain kinds of evidence. mic Freedom and Educational Responsibility Cranks can and must be filtered out. “The or- goes even further in that direction and may, derly management of scientific inquiry,” in fact, lay the groundwork for what isreally Williams declares, “implies that the vast ma- needed—action to correct the situation. jority of suggestions which an uninformed The problem consists of several elements, person might mistake for a contribution” will alluded to but not explored or acknowledged quite properly be brushed aside. “Very rarely by the AAC&Ustatement. The first is the the cranky view turns out to be right, and documented one-sided character of top univer- then the scientists who ignored it are attacked sity faculties in the “value-bearing” disciplines for dogmatism and prejudice,” but “they can of the humanities and social sciences.The sec- rightly reply, there was no way of telling in ad- ond is the widespread influence of the post- vance that this particular cranky idea was to modern view that debunks the traditional be taken seriously,” and that if every such idea premises for academic freedom and liberal were allowed to command the attention of in- education based on the search for truth and vestigators very little progress in inquiry could reasoned debate. The third is the power on be made. In a conclusion that might apply to campus of those who believe in the suppression a great range of the controversies between of “politically incorrect” thought and speech. academics and their nonacademic criticsover These are widespread, well-known phenom- whether this or that academic enterprise is ena—documented not only by their critics balanced, Williams generalizes as follows: but often acknowledged and even advocated “People cannot come in from outside, speak in print by their proponents. when they feel like it, make endless, irrele- Added to this is substantial evidence of a vant, or insulting interventions, and so on; politicized classroom. In late 2004, the Ameri- they cannot invoke a right to do so, and no can Council of Trustees and Alumni commis- one thinks that things would go better in the sioned the Center for Survey Research and direction of truth if they could” (2002, 217). Analysis at the University of Connecticut to Finally, I want to observe that the emphases conduct a scientific survey of undergraduates in the AAC&Ustatement are fully consistent in the top fifty national research and liberal with those favored by the American Associa- arts colleges and universities listed by US tion of University Professors (AAUP). I want News & World Report. What did we find? A to call attention to a highly salient theoretical shocking 49 percent of the students said their treatise recently written by Robert Post professorsfrequently injected political comments (2006), a member of the AAUPCommittee into their courses, even if they had nothing to on Academic Freedom and Tenure. This es- do with the subject—in direct violation of the say, “The Structure of Academic Freedom,” 1940 American Association of University provides additional, well-argued support for Professors Statement on Academic Freedom, the position wisely taken by AAC&U. ■■ the acknowledged touchstone of academic rights and responsibilities. 16 LIBERAL EDUCATION SPRING 2006 C I P O T D E R U T A E F Lyon College Imagine if 49 percent of professors spent class legitimate intellectual perspectives appropri- time advocating their own religion. What if ate to their disciplines. And individual faculty 49 percent of women said that their professors members sometimes express their personal views injected sexually suggestive remarks in class? to students in ways that intimidate them.”It Or African American students reported racial concludes with what may well be a (very faint) insults in the classroom? Higher education call for action: “There are institutional means would take immediate action. Political harass- for dealing with these matters, and in all of ment and viewpoint discrimination merit a these areas, there is room for improvement.” similar response. All this is positive, and we hope that it will To its credit, the AAC&Ustatement reaf- lead to action. After Harvard president firms the classic expressions of academic free- Lawrence Summers made the im- dom and the fundamental First Amendment politic observation that re- We hope that, a year principle that “unwelcome views need to be searchers might explore whether from now, colleges and heard rather than silenced.” It articulates an biological factors affect the universities will be understanding of liberal education and acade- propensity of women to go into mic freedom based on reasoned debate and math and science, it took only a able to report concrete the search for truth “unconstrained by politi- matter of weeks for Harvard to actions they are taking cal, religious, or other dictums.” It emphasizes appoint a diversity dean and to to ensure that students the responsibilities, and not just the rights, of appropriate millions of dollars to- enjoy the “free professors. It strongly endorses “students’ free- ward women and science. Why dom to form independent judgments”—which not do the same when it comes to marketplace of ideas” is quite different from those who would mould intellectual diversity? students into “change agents” for a prescribed Our reportIntellectual Diversity: Time for social agenda. It celebrates the diversity of Action (available online at www.goacta.org) views and explains why “the clash of compet- suggests a wide range of positive steps the ing ideas is an important catalyst . . . in stu- higher education community might take— dents’ development of independent critical such as conducting a self-study on the current judgment.” It underscores the importance of state of intellectual diversity on campus; in- grading on “merit . . . uninfluenced by the corporating intellectual diversity into institu- personal views of professors.” tional statements; and encouraging balanced In its own muted way, the statement ac- panels and speaker series. We hope that, a knowledges that higher education falls short year from now, colleges and universities will of these ideals. “In reality, practice often”— be able to report concrete actions they are often!—“falls short of these norms.” It gives taking to ensure that students enjoy the specifics: “Some departments fail to ensure that “free marketplace of ideas.” ■■ their curricula include the full diversity of SPRING 2006 LIBERAL EDUCATION 17 A Response from Bruce Robbins To help students think critically about a C I I ADMIREBOTHTHESPIRITANDTHELETTERof subject or problem, faculty members need to P the Association of American Colleges and take seriously what students already know or O T Universities (AAC&U) Statement on Academic believe about the topic and engage that prior Freedom and Educational Responsibility. The understanding so that new learning modifies D E main thing I’d like to add is a reflection on the old—complicating, correcting, and ex- R the rhetorical situation that calls forth such panding it. The process of cultivating a lib- U statements. I wonder whether the struggle for eral education is a journey that transforms T A the defense of the university doesn’t demand the minds and hearts, and frequently the E other sorts of strategy as well. starting assumptions, of those involved. F In the face of persistent attacks from without, Or does the statement suggest that these attacks that make up in financial resources and “starting assumptions” are not “frequently” political connections for whatever they may but alwayswrong? The underlyingbelief here lack in reliable information—the example that is betrayed in the metaphor that follows: “Just comes to mind at my university is the David as a crustacean breaks its confining shell in or- Project’s baseless but skillfully publicizedassault der to grow, so students may have to jettison on faculty critics of Israel—academics and ad- narrow concepts as they expand their knowl- ministrators who themselves hold diverse po- edge.” The crustacean’s shell hasto be de- litical views have banded together, faithfully stroyed. Thus the implication is not that the if not always swiftly, to reaffirm the concept of “initial concepts” or student beliefs mayhave academic freedom. This line of self-defense has to be jettisoned, but that theymustbe jetti- the advantage of inspiring a soned. Here academic knowledge is quietly “Academic freedom” certain respect among the edu- claiming a lot for itself. I admit I myself am en- cated public. In practice, how- ergized by being told that I do nothing less means circling the wagons. ever, it has not always stood heroic than this. But I’m not sure it will work In the larger struggle over up well to waves of patriotic as well on outsiders. the university to which hysteria like McCarthyism. I like the (Hegelian) story according to the recent attacks belong, And it has several disadvan- which students start by seeing things in tages that it’s just as well to be black and white, then react to the onslaught we may need to be more clear about. of academic knowledge by fleeing to the op- enterprising, even One disadvantage concerns posite position that any idea is as good as any to go on the offensive the frequent confusion be- other, and then if all goes well end up realizing tween academic freedom and that, now that they can evaluate arguments freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is a and evidence, some views are really better universal right, available to non-academics as than others. But if we academics continue to well. Academic freedom is not: it gives acade- be quite so neutral as to what these better mics a great deal of authority to control speech (stage 3) views are, non-academics are likely within their domain without interference from to continue to think that what we’re really outside it. In clarifying this confusionwhile also teaching is (stage 2) that any idea is as good asking the general public to support academic as any other. freedom, the AAC&Ustatement is asking the “It is inevitable,” the statement says, “that general public to support a right, an authority, students will encounter ideas, books, and peo- for which many will have no real equivalent ple that challenge their preconceived ideas and in their own working lives. Supporters of aca- beliefs.” This is true to my experience, and in demic freedom do not always seem to realize the present context it needs to be said and said how forbidding a rhetorical and political again. But how much further down this road do challenge this represents. we want to go? Are we ready to define the In the effort to explain the benefits of acad- knowledge we produce as a challenge to all emic freedom not to ourselves, but to the rest “preconceived ideas and beliefs”? Is our self-ap- of society, the best we seem to have come up pointed task to supersede any ideas and beliefs with thus far is the teaching of “independent that have already been conceived, and simply critical judgment.” Like the administrative because of their prior conception, the fact that abstraction “excellence,” this has an innocent they exist? The risk is a seeming worship of minimalism that bears looking into. intellectual novelty for its own sake, at the 18 LIBERAL EDUCATION SPRING 2006 C I P O T D E R U T A E F Columbia University expense of any principles (for example, princi- layman’s concern about how far certain issues ples of democracy) that would help us flesh out should and should not be medicalized, to what the goals of our scholarship and make them extent a certain sort of conduct is properly visible as goals an outsider too can appreciate. seen as a “disease” rather than (like most con- Outsiders are perhaps a bit undervalued in duct) an inscrutable mixture of nature and the statement. “A discipline,” it says, “consists nurture, free will and social determination. of a specialized community that, through in- A healthy discipline (so to speak) is always tense collective effort, has formulated reliable addressing at least some of the objections that methods for determining whether any particu- might be raised by those outside the discipline. lar claim meets accepted criteria for truth. But I’m sure there are economists who are asking, assertions from any single disciplinary com- when they model a given corporate strategy, munity as to ‘what is the case’ are themselves how the costs to the environment and the costs necessarily partial and bounded because other to future generations might be factored in as disciplinary communities can and do provide real economic costs rather than being left to the other perspectives.” This final “because” ought environmentalists. Disciplines could not func- to be replaced by something like “if for no other tion without respect for the views of “outsiders,” reason than the fact that.” The statement’s whether from other disciplines or not. phrasing makes it sound as if, were it not for the “Academic freedom” means circling the wag- existence of other disciplines, each discipline ons.In the larger struggle over the university would be completely reliable. It’s as if each to which the recent attacks belong, we may discipline had to agree with itself, to be unani- need to be more enterprising, even to go on the mous in its judgment, in order to supportpro- offensive. This will entail recognizing, threaten- fessional opinion against non-professional ing as the recognition may be in terms of self- opinion, so that dissent could only come from defense, that the line between the academy’s other disciplines. This misstates the way disci- inside and outside has never been as tight and plines work as zones of disagreement—controlled defensible as we sometimes pretend. ■■ disagreement, disagreement within limits that insiders can sense if not necessarily point to or describe. REFERENCES Conflict is arguably at the discipline’s very Post, R. 2006. The structure of academic freedom. In heart, and yet it is always reaching outside the Academic freedom after September 11,ed. B. Doumani. Cambridge, MA: Zone Books. discipline. However inconvenient interference Schmidt, B. C., Jr. 1991. The university and freedom. may sometimes seem, the “outside” is intrinsic Speech given at the 92nd Street Y, New York. to academic work. For example, it would be Williams, B. 2002. Truth and truthfulness: An essay in unfair to psychology to imagine that psychol- genealogy.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ogists themselves have nothing to say to a SPRING 2006 LIBERAL EDUCATION 19