Defines the concept of academic freedom in a historical and comparative framework and discusses the challenges facing academic freedom around the world, where it is frequently under attack. (SLD)

Addresses concerns about school personnel records and legal precedents regarding privacy. Recommends inclusion in teacher education of content about teachers' privacy rights. Lists fair information practices for schools regarding the accuracy of and access to personnel records. (SK)

Describes the development of the Library Bill of Rights and adoption of revisions to it in 1948. As the McCarthy era unfolded, librarians aligned themselves with an ideology of pluralist democracy and championed intellectual freedom. Highlights include specific intellectual freedom cases of the time and the involvement of the American Library…

Discusses two vying interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights (intellectual freedom seen as pure neutrality or as social responsibility) and highlights conflicts that these views created within the American Library Association (ALA) from 1967 to 1973. Outlines early history of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of Libraries and the…

Discusses the implications of "Gluckenberger v. Boston University," a case involving the claim of discrimination against students with learning disabilities. The discussion focuses on the inherent conflict between enforcing antidiscrimination law and the freedom of a university to control its own academic standards in the context of dealing with…

Critically examines the ethical presuppositions upon which the American Library Association's (ALA's) Library Bill of Rights is based in light of several ethical theories. Suggests social contact theory provides the strongest argument for a right to access information. Argues that the ALA's advocacy of an unlimited right to access is based on a…

Discusses how the deadline for Roman Catholic theologians at Catholic colleges to gain bishops' approval of their teaching passed without the uproar over academic freedom that many had expected. (EV)

Describes how, at Southfield, Michigan's Lawrence Technological University, one professor is fighting an administration that he says keeps a hit list of enemies it wants to dismiss. (EV)

School leaders must recognize and respect the freedom of expression rights of students within reasonable limits, but they may restrict student expression that creates material and substantial disruption to the educational process. The challenge for school leaders is to achieve the proper balance between the rights of students and the needs of…

As a profession, Librarians rightly pride themselves on valuing freedom of expression. The immediate and convenient nature of online discussion, though, hinders professionals from putting the same thought into internet conversations as into other professional communications. NextGens who have grown up with online communication are particularly…

I will argue in what follows, following the insights of James Marshall on busno-cratic power, that resistance to this new power is already well underway, and that this resistance is potentially problematic and potentially transgressive (in Marshall's words "a reflective reconstitution"). The self is not only a chooser in busno-cratic land, it is…

This project explores how discourses of difference sustain the separation of people with disabilities from community life and highlights the efforts of one organization, Passion Works, as members perform a counter-narrative of disability. Passion Works is a non-profit organization housed within a sheltered workshop sponsored by its local county…

Education, as a human right, is the acknowledgement of the individual's rights rather than his or her role in the capitalist goals of the economic growth; the human right to education is the way through which one can conquer freedom and become a genuine individuated being, self-aware and yet deeply and truly connected to others. A rights-based…

In this article, the author discusses the continuing controversy of teaching intelligent design along with evolution in science classes in the interest of academic freedom, an idea since endorsed by President Bush. More recently religious fundamentalists have tried a new approach to fight the teaching of evolution in public schools. With this new…

It's the season for sharing--sharing one's views with elected officials, that is. All across the country and in Washington, lawmakers are holding formal hearings or less-formal listening sessions on critical issues. Because these events can influence elected officials' perceptions about the importance of physical education and health, knowing how…