Just Talk: Academic Freedom in Troubled Times

Today's political climate has become increasingly inimical to academic freedom. We have recently seen legislative and gubernatorial attacks on individual faculty members, course offerings, governing boards, the institution of tenure, and, generally, the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities. Websites such as Professor Watchlist are monitoring activities of faculty members and denouncing departures from what they view as acceptable. These activities have led to targeted harassment of faculty members. This presentation provides an overview of the concept of academic freedom, recent attacks on academic freedom, and how you can defend academic freedom.

Hans-Joerg Tiede is the Senior Program Officer in the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance at the American Association of University Professors. He is also the editor of Policy Documents and Reports (the AAUP “Redbook”) (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015) and author of University Reform: The Founding of the American Association of University Professors (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015).

Just Talk is the Kraemer Family Library's programming series that is designed to promote open and honest dialogue about equity, diversity, and inclusion on the UCCS campus and beyond.