Dateline: May 03, 2000
"SCIENCE, RELIGION & RUSSELL" > Page 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
Academic Freedom
Bertrand Russell's problems occurred back in 1940 - almost ancient history for some people. Have matters improved today? Some, but not by as much as most may hope or assume. The first U.S. Supreme Court case to even mention the issue of academic freedom did not occur until 1952. And in Adler v. Board of Education, the Court actually reaffirmed the police powers of the state to protect schools from the "pollution of alien or subversive" ideas. The concept of academic freedom, although accepted by many people and hopefully many readers, is still tenuous in this country and given more attention in theory than practice.
Ultimately, there is little that any professor can do if his or her academic freedom is violated. The only group which is supposed to fight on behalf on them is the American Association of University Professors, and that effort is often ineffectual. About the only thing the AAUP can do in the end is put the university on its censure list - and the length of the list demonstrates that many universities aren't too concerned with such consequences. Rarely, if ever, does it affect the all-important bottom line of fund raising and tuition revenues.
And all of this is just the case in the secular institutions - in religious universities and seminaries, the situation can be absolutely atrocious. Bob Jones University is a now-famous example of how a religiously motivated administration can create a hostile atmosphere. Academic freedom is a non-issue at BJU, just like concepts like tenure or faculty governance. Even joining a larger academic association like the AAUP is to "sacrifice God's blessing through disobedience" to the institutions hierarchy.
Academic Freedom vs. Religion
But BJU isn't the only institution which has so suffered. Most by now are aware of how far-right fundamentalist took over the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1980s and early 90s - what many are not aware of is how they also took over respected Baptist seminaries across the South.
These institutions had accepted historical-critical approaches to studying both the Bible and Christianity. They had adopted the principle of not only academic freedom, but also open theological inquiry where no one was expected to hold to a party line on political, social or even theological issues. They allowed for the traditional Baptist doctrine that each believer must be free to interpret the Bible as individuals and follow the calling of their hearts.
But all of this changed for the worse starting in the early 1990s. Professors who were otherwise well respected and leaders in their field started to be purged if they refused to adopt positions more in line with the political aspirations of fundamentalists. A particularly hot topic was naturally abortion - any professor who held a pro-choice view or even just felt the matter was debatable was in danger.
It didn't matter if these people violated no contractual obligations and transgressed against none of the Baptist confessional commitments. These seminaries were being reshaped into the propaganda arms of fundamentalist forces and there was no room for even mild dissent. As with Scopes and Russell before them, educators were declared to be mere employees who had to adopt the political and religious resolutions set before them or leave.
Particularly frightening was the hostile atmospheres created by the fundamentalists seeking any excuse possible to expel dissenting academics. Student vigilantes were recruited to monitor classes held by dissenters and report back to the administration. Anonymous hate notes were circulated and lies were spread about what professors really believed - not unlike what happened to Bertrand Russell. Nowadays controversial subjects are rarely if ever broached in lectures.
