For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom

An exploration of the meaning of academic freedom in American higher education

“If you want to think seriously about academic freedom and you’re looking for a place to begin, this is the book for you.”—Stanley Fish, Texas Law Review
 
Academic freedom is under increasing fire in the United States. Debate swirls around campus “indoctrination” and critical race theory. Legislative efforts to regulate schools and scholars proliferate, from the Stop WOKE Act in Florida to bans on diversity policies in Texas. Institutions’ donors hold growing influence.
 
Matthew W. Finkin and Robert C. Post outline the history and meaning of American academic freedom—beginning in 1915, when the idea was articulated by the American Association of University Professors to ensure that faculty could pursue their work according to the standards of the profession. Higher education was viewed as a mission for the common good underpinned by the primary dimensions of academic freedom: research and publication, teaching, intramural speech, and extramural speech.
 
In revisiting these founding principles, Finkin and Post aim to bring intellectual integrity and coherence to the discussion over academic freedom, and what it means in the twenty-first century.

Matthew W. Finkin is the Maybelle Swanlund Endowed Chair, University of Illinois College of Law. He lives in Champaign, IL. Robert C. Post is Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School. He lives in New Haven, CT.