Warns that higher education, particularly in the humanities, has become politicized. Argues that restrictions on the freedom of speech of professors and students in the name of feminist and antiracist ideologies are one-sided examples of "political correctness." Contends that the humanities are diminished by such politicalization and…

The author discusses the content in John Milton's "Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing to the Parliament of England" (1985) and provides parallelism to censorship practiced in higher education. Originally published in 1644, "Areopagitica" makes a powerful--and precocious--argument for freedom of speech…

My purpose in writing this article is to examine the claim that "Teachers are responsible for what happens in their classrooms" in relation to action research. Although the claim appears to be a fairly straightforward, it has multiple meanings that depend on the ideologies of those making the claim. I argue that an often-overlooked way…

The old childhood ditty "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" has proved wiser than the avalanche of commentary provoked by the recent insults by Don Imus and the killings at Virginia Tech. Our society forbids public name-calling but allows sticks and stones. Anyone can acquire a gun, but everyone must be…

This fall has been a season of flag planting for defenders of academic freedom. It began in September, when the American Association of University Professors released its statement, "Freedom in the Classroom." Then in October, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences released its own statement of principles on the topic. Later that month, a new…

The purpose of this advisory is to assist academic staff in retaining copyright ownership in the articles they publish in journals. Without copyright ownership, academic staff can lose control of their own work and may no longer be entitled to email it to students and colleagues, post it on a personal or course web page, place it in an…

This article offers a critical perspective on the academic tenure system in the USA. Academic tenure is most frequently defended for the protection it affords freedom of speech in higher education, and it is attacked for its cost and lack of flexibility in a rapidly changing sector. The paper makes a third argument, that tenure sustains an…

Materials challenges and censorship occur often in public and private educational settings. Private schools and their library media centers are not subject to the First Amendment but research reported in this article examines the state of challenges to materials held in private schools media centers in the southeast United States as a way to gauge…

A case pending in a federal court of appeals in California may clarify a surprisingly murky question: Do faculty members at public universities enjoy a special privilege to speak freely about institutional matters, or, as far as the First Amendment is concerned, are they just another category of government hirelings? Juan Hong, a professor of…

When the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) held its annual meeting in Washington, in mid-June, some members called the gathering the most crucial in the group's 93-year history. On the last day of the meeting, members overwhelmingly approved a restructuring plan that could resolve longstanding problems, which include declining…

When it comes to anti-malware protection, today's university IT departments have their work cut out for them. Network managers must walk the fine line between enabling a highly collaborative, non-restrictive environment, and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and computing resources. This is no easy task, especially…

Access to information is an essential art of the educational system. The reality is, however, that there are laws and policies in effect that can restrict what information is available to students and teachers in K-12 schools. Selection policies, Acceptable Use Policies, Circulation Policies, as well as federal laws and acts, all place…

Academic and disciplinary modes of identity are arguably the constituent elements of scholarly cultures (Hall 2002; Shulman 2004). Such elements are a crucial "point of entry" for change projects. Many change projects inherently involve the imposition of constraints and demands for change on academics. This paper seeks to explore the…

What schools should teach and what materials they should use are fundamental questions. Censorhsip of K-12 curriculum materials threatens academic freedom, diversity of thought, and other important educational values. The definition of censorship is itself the subject of disagreement. Censorship cannot be clearly distinguished from the gatekeeping…

This monograph synthesizes the laws and regulations that form the basis of the right to representation in the court of public opinion by all who would seek to influence public and private decisions. It expresses the framework of human and social values that underlie this constitutional freedom and that give public relations and other management…