Here's another good commentary from the same page: Academic Freedom Is a Cornerstone of Democracy
Academic freedom is a precious and fragile support to discussion and intellectual growth within the academic community. It is very difficult to have a national participative democracy without it. There are continual challenges to academic freedom from both outside and inside academia. Professor Doumani has given a clear and succinct description of current external challenges specific to post-9/11 society. At the same time, it is important to understand that academic freedom can be undermined from within through incompetence, lack of professionalism and bigotry. I don't think that the internal successes and failures of academic freedom nationwide have been clearly observed, analyzed and documented. Ad hoc assessments, based on hearsay and anecdotal evidence, fall way short of a reliable picture of the state of academic freedom. Also, most media attention seems to be focused on large state-run universities and ignore small private colleges, so I would not expect a comprehensive picture to be available. Finally, examination of the publishing successes of few high-profile authors tells us nothing about what happens in the classroom nationwide. Tim Duncan, Dean at Cogswell Polytechnical College, at 2:25 pm EST on March 7, 2006 On 3/7/06, Larry C. Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I found this comment very interesting > > -- > Classical Rhetoric > > I don't think that the "academic left" is afraid of debate, but I do > think that many academics tire of the ceaseless ad hominem attacks, > shrill accusations, baiting and switching, and either/or reasoning > that that goes on in forums like this one. Painting "academia" with a > single broad brush (rich, whiny, elitist, lazy, liberal, and so on) > like many have in these discussions creates the very straw men > necessary to sustain such tirades. This is not reasoned debate; this > is target practice, and it does nothing to further discussion, > illuminate the issues, or consider the complexity of important topics > like this one. It's easy to sneer; it's harder to think. > > J. George, Associate Professor at In the Pacific Northwest, at 1:55 pm > EST on March 7, 2006 > -- > http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/03/07/acfree > > On 3/7/06, Kevin Schmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Yep, if it ain't science, it don't belong in the science class! > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: G [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 2:02 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: SPAM-LOW: RE: military recruiting on college campuses > > > > > I'd say the same for a right-winger doing the same type of stuff. > > > > > > > Good to hear!!! Remember this statement when your state board of education > > gets around to discussing whether ideologues should be allowed to > > indoctrinate your children with their religious beliefs during biology > > classes. You'll be just as vocal an opponent to this type of biased > > philosophical tripe I trust.... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:199243 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
