The Unfolding of a Case Study in Academic Freedom
Some faculty interpret 'academic freedom' to be a right that allows them to say and teach what they want in their classes. A new story coming from Wisconsin reminds us of this protection's original intent.
In Wisconsin, it appears that the Republican Party is using Wisconsin's equivalent of a 'Freedom of Information Act' (FOIA) request to pressure Dr. William Cronon, an historian of modern American politics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to surrender all emails that might relate to the Madison rallies, the Republican Senators who are targets for recall efforts, and three Republican leaders that appear to be at the heart of the political conflict. And thus we have a genuine conflict between political interests of the day and the work of an academic.
