ACADEMIC
FREEDOM: TOO LITTLE AND TOO MUCH
William A. Fisher
Presented at the SAFS Annual General
Meeting (May, 2004), in a symposium entitled: Limits to Academic Freedom.
In my thirty-odd years
as a researcher in socially sensitive areas of human behavior—including
sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS risk and transmission—I have formed the settled
impression that there is far too little academic freedom. I have also
formed the settled impression that there is far too much academic freedom. And
I have concluded that it is difficult to confront attacks on academic freedom,
and impossible to police exploitation of academic freedom for nefarious
ends.
Let me explain.
There is Far too Little Academic Freedom
It has been my observation—and doubtless the observation of many SAFS
members—that there is far too little academic freedom accorded to research and
teaching that has the temerity to be disagreeable to someone with the power to punish
such misbehavior. While we have each likely observed and/or been victimized
by the lack of genuine freedom to explore areas of scholarship that are
disagreeable to some, I would like to suggest that we can categorize some of sources
of the academic freedom drought.
Institutional Ignorance and Cowardice
Some of the institutions at which we work are simply ignorant of the role of
the university as incubator of new and sometimes difficult knowledge; some
institutions cower in fear of public and government opinion; and some
institutions happily embody both of these estimable qualities in full
measure.
A classical clinical presentation of syndromic ignorance and cowardice
occurred at the University of Western
Ontario in the early 1990s. James Miller, a
professor in the humanities, assigned his graduate seminar to collect AIDS
prevention posters from around the world, and this resulted in the creation of an
exhibit, “Visual AIDS,” which was of such quality and impact it was circulated
in museums in major capitals. Arriving back home in southwestern Ontario
after this tour, “Visual AIDS” was posted in Western’s campus library, where
the police—alerted by a vigilant citizen—threatened to bust the university
on obscenity charges unless the offending exhibit was taken down.
Ignorance and cowardice ruled, the exhibit was taken down, and repositioned—behind
locked doors—in an out of the way corner of campus. Irony ruled too—to visit
the exhibit one had to step on a mosaic of the University
of Western Ontario’s
motto—“Veritas et Utilitas”—confirming once and for all that Western served neither.
University Speech and Harassment Codes
With the best of intentions (note that these can be used to pave the way
to…never mind), many Canadian universities have established speech and
harassment codes that are designed to create a warm and supportive climate and to outlaw
sexual coercion and sexual bribery. Look closely at speech codes and
harassment guidelines, however, in relation to your course content or research
interests.
Western’s sexual harassment regulations stipulate that sexual
harassment involves, among other things, “Repeated behavior, verbal or physical,
that by denigrating a group on the basis of sexual orientation or gender,
interferes with the academic or work environment.” When I examined the course
content of an award-winning human sexuality course that is taught at Western, it
occurred to me that scholarly discussions of the neurobiology of premenstrual
syndrome, sex differences in sex drive, and failures to empirically confirm
feminist hypotheses concerning assumed negative effects of pornography, could be
construed as “Repreated behavior….that by denigrating a group….on the
basis of gender…interferes with the academic or work environment.” Checking with
the framers of the sexual harassment guidelines at Western, I found that my
course curriculum could clearly merit consideration of sexual harassment
charges. I was assured, however, that no reasonable person would ever find against
me. However, when asked whether the university would pay my legal bills,
the answer was a muffled guffaw, and mention that the money the university
invested in sexual harassment adjudication would go to pay the salary of the
persons considering charges against professors.
Politically Driven Research Funding
A less-often recognized limit on academic freedom comes from the
politically driven decision making of research granting agencies. To cite a major
example of research funding bias that was harmful to both science and public
health, I note that of the hundreds of millions of dollars invested—appropriately
in my view—in the global fight against AIDS, there was essentially no
research funding invested in studying unsafe sex among people living with HIV
for the first two decades of the AIDS epidemic. Astoundingly, and directed by
liberal preoccupation with not “blaming the victim,” from the identification of
AIDS as a clinical entity in 1981 until just about 2000, essentially no funding
went to researchers who wished to focus on HIV transmission risk and associated
HIV prevention requirements among people living with HIV/AIDS. Just as astoundingly,
hundreds of millions of dollars went to study the promotion of safer sex among
HIV-people who—while they could become infected—could not transmit the
virus to others. Grant funding in this area finally began in the US in about
2000, and US—but not Canadian—HIV prevention efforts now focus heavily on what
the Centers for Disease Control call “Prevention for Positives.” Note well
that research funding biases emanate not only from the political left but
also from the political right. For example, HIV prevention researchers have been
encouraged not to distribute effective AIDS prevention materials—developed with research grant funding--on the basis of fear that right wing
legislators will turn off funding taps when offended by such materials which, in
the words of one right wing observer, “Teaches people how to sin with impunity.

Conclusions
It
is clear to me that there is far too little academic freedom accorded
to those whose work is perceived to be disagreeable. Institutional ignorance and
cowardice, speech and harassment codes, and research funding that is
politically driven, all circumscribe our ability to teach and to do
research.
Moreover, attacks on academic freedom are often difficult to confront
and engender personal suffering, financial loss and stigma on the part of those who
are attacked. Tenure is often but not always an effective firewall, but it
does not diminish the personal anguish and financial costs of defense of those
attacked.
There is Far Too
Much Academic Freedom
Even though I just said that there is far too little academic freedom—a belief I cling to
strongly—I also believe that there is far too much academic freedom.
For example, scholars and teachers are often completely free to publish
work that violates moral absolutes and to exploit teaching and research
opportunities to expound political as opposed to scholarly positions.
Research and Teaching that
Violates Moral Absolutes
Again citing personal encounters in the HIV/AIDS research area, I note that I acted
as consulting editor for a manuscript submitted to the Journal
of Sex Research in the mid-1990s by a distinguished team of
Columbia University
researchers. Entitled, “Effects of Testosterone Replacement Therapy on
Sexual Interest, Function, and Behavior of HIV+ Men,” the study reported on an
experimental effort that sought—quite successfully—to ameliorate the
suffering of HIV afflicted men by supplying them with androgen therapy to improve
their sex drive, erectile firmness, and sexual behavior overall. Reviewing
this manuscript through raised eyebrows, I noted that that work—funded by a
respected granting agency--had succeeded in increasing the likelihood
of sexual activity—hopefully but not necessarily safe--among men who carried a
then always lethal sexually transmitted pathogen. Academic freedom is accorded—in excess—to those who may
be skirting violation of such controversial moral sentiments as as
“Thou Shalt Not Kill,” and “First, Do No Harm.”
Exploiting
Teaching and Research Opportunities to Expound Political Views
Especially in academic areas whose designation includes the word “studies”—Latin
American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Women’s Studies—academics are accorded
an excess of freedom to exploit teaching and research opportunities to
expound political views rather than scholarship. We can all come up with
personal examples, but my recent academic sojourns have exposed me to Latin
American Studies courses that involve exultation of Fidel Castro’s worker’s
paradise such as makes one hanker for the balance and thoughtfulness of North Korean political reeducation camp;
Middle Eastern Studies teachings by the likes of Edward Said (shown
below throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border) and Women’s
Studies pronouncements that have everything to do with political agendae and
nothing whatever to do with scholarship.
Conclusions
There is far too much academic freedom. It is sometimes accorded uncritically to
scholarship and teaching that violates fundamental moral principles, and often accorded
uncritically to those who exploit teaching and research opportunities
to assert political agendae rather than scholarship. There is no obvious way to
police this – tenure is the best protection for these folks too – and perhaps
this is the price we pay for whatever academic freedom we actually do have.
Maybe my father was right: there is no free
lunch. But there is free advice…
Free Advice
Academic freedom is a very fuzzy category. There is too little of it, and too
much. It is very difficult to confront situations in which there are excessive
limits on academic freedom, and nearly impossible to police situations in which
there is too much. We must also note that academic freedom is a principle and as
such can come into conflict with other principles. Maybe it is time to
acknowledge that we live in a multiply principled campus and maybe it is time to
propose some formulae such as:
Academic
Freedom > Comfort
And
Academic
Freedom > Efforts to Prevent or Disrupt Discussion
And
Academic Freedom < Tolerance for Lethal Behavior
William Fisher, is a
professor at the University of Western Ontario in the Department of Psychology,
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Center for HIV Intervention
and Prevention, University of Connecticut, also a SAFS
member.
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