Academic Freedom - Illusions and Hypocrisy … America vs. Italy
Academic Freedom - Illusions and Hypocrisy … America vs. Italy
(August 12, 2014)
Socrates Paid the Ultimate Price for Genuine Academic Freedom
I cringe when I hear: “The Founding Fathers”. This cliché is cited to justify all types of moral, political and legal judgments. The problem is the Founding Fathers’ expressed ideals did not correspond to American political, economic and moral reality then or now. /// /// The fact of the matter is, in the US and all societies, the prevailing and ever changing ideological milieu (or mass popular delusions) is the sole criterion for collective moral judgments and associated actions. /// /// ‘Freedom of Speech’ and its derivate ‘Academic Freedom’ being a case in point illustrated by the recent ‘dust-up’ over the dismissal of Steven Salaita from his teaching post at University of Illinois; apparently because of his vociferous condemnation of the Israeli bombing of Gaza. /// /// The typical ‘ivory tower’ response came from American Association of University Professors' Illinois committee: “Speech that is deemed controversial should be challenged with further speech that may abhor and challenge a statesmen.” OMG ! Get real professors. Real politics has nothing to do with ideal precepts. /// /// A similar Ivory Tower response came from Giorgio Mariani: Professor of American Literature at Sapienza University of Rome. Likewise, expressing his concerns about the Salaita dismissal in a letter to the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign. He writes: “[I am] outright shocked by such a decision, which is contrary to everything the best American liberal thinkers, from Ralph Waldo Emerson onwards, have always stood for.” /// /// “Ralph Waldo Emerson?” “Shocked”! Is he serious? Does he really think Emerson’s writings are a criterion for decision-making in the American university system (who reads Emerson … two people in the English department?). Frankly, I am shock that an intellectual of such stature and prolific scholarly writer about American history and literature should manifest such naiveté. Normally, I would not give his letter a moments thought, if it were not for one amazing thought provoking paragraph indicating, if true, what may be a profound sociological difference between Italy and the US in matters of academic free speech.
University Of Illinois Professor Apparently Loses Job Over Anti-Israel Tweets
“An outspoken critic of Israel's role in the latest conflict in Gaza appears to have had his job offer at a major university retracted due to his tweets and public comments on the matter… Reports by Inside Higher Ed and the Daily-Gazette indicate that Steven Salaita's anti-Israel tweets on the conflict in Gaza, which had recently received some media attention, was the reason why the author's offer of employment was rescinded.” (see here)
“The campaign against Salaita is almost certainly motivated not just by his tweets but by the fact that he has been an outspoken and effective campaigner for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.” (see here)
In response there has been an outcry from various academic organizations and individual academics.
For example,
“The American Association of University Professors' Illinois committee … ‘Speech that is deemed controversial should be challenged with further speech that may abhor and challenge a statesmen. … The University of Illinois cannot cancel an appointment based upon Twitter statements that are protected speech in the United States of America.’ " (see here )
Also,
“Twenty prominent professors wrote to UIU urging in the strongest terms to reverse its decision immediately and reinstate Professor Salaita.” (see here)
Many other complaints about the Salaita dismissal have been well documented (see Google search “Steven Salaita”)
All of which apparently have fallen on deaf ears at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“The university declined to comment to Inside Higher Ed on why Salaita's appointment was blocked when typically a post like his, having already been made public, would only require the formality of the school's board of trustees' approval before being confirmed. The university has also not responded to a Huffington Post request for comment. (see here )
Academic Freedom … Professorial Hypocrisy
The problem with the professorial “hue and cry” about ‘academic freedom’ is that the concept is selectively embraced and applied.
It is a well documented fact: if a significant number of academicians disagree with a dissenter’s scientific or ideological position, then the academic community will not only agree with the administration, indeed they will implore the administration to censure, punish and dismiss the dissenting professor.
There is no academic freedom or free speech for scholars who place themselves outside of the collective professorial ideological milieu!
To my mind, at least part of the reason that University administrators feel comfortable ignoring complaints about violations of academic freedom and free speech is because they recognize the hypocritical and duplistic character of the protesting professorial class.
Complaints about violations of academic freedom are dictated by prevailing political correctness of the professorial class.
If a professor, who is out of step with the prevailing professorial ideological milieu, is denied tenure or fired or in any other way disciplined, the silence in the academic collective is pervasive, or worse the cheering is deafening.
Indeed, the same people who are now lamenting Salaita’s dismissal will demand, that a professor who espouses ideas different than theirs, be disciplined if not fired.
For example:
Where were the Academic Freedom (train riders) when Nicholas Darapela, a vocal critic of climate change was fired without explanation from Oregon State University (see here).
Where were the Academic Freedom (train riders) when Guillermo Gonxales, an Intelligent Design theorist who challenges some aspects of Darwinian Evolution, was denied tenure at Iowa State University (see here)
Where were the Academic Freedom (train riders) when Peter Duesberg, a Noble Prize candidate who had tenure and could not be fired, was severely disciplined and ostracized by the University of California Berkley because he brought forth challenges to the HIV is the cause of AIDS theory (see “Dogmatism in Science and Medicine" by H.H. Bauer).
In short, one could go on with many many other examples of highly credentialed and qualified scientist who were fired or disciplined because their scientific work was indicating that prevailing widely accepted theories MAY BE wrong.
In these cases, the dogmatic professorial ideological class were not concerned with Academic Freedom or Freedom of Speech. They were only interesting in perpetuating their ideologies and foisting their ideology onto their students. Dissenters are not welcome on their ideological ‘train.’
Firing a Catholic teacher at a Catholic College for espousing Catholic Doctrine
My favorite example of the duplicity of the professorial class as they relate to Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech is the case of the firing of the devote Catholic from St. Mary’s Catholic College in South Bend Indiana for his stand on abortion.
E. Michael Jones was hired to a tenure track job teaching American Literature at St. Mary’s College in South Bend Indiana. He was fired because he was against abortion. Not only did he not get support from the Academic Freedom (train riders), it was the Freedom train riders who were demanding his dismissal.
“The chairwomen of the English department visited Jones and told him, that most of his colleagues were unhappy with him for openly supporting ‘Humanae Vitae’ and other papal teachings in his lectures and writing, and unhappier still that he had posted a flyer for a pro-life rally on his office door.
“Jones pointed out in his defense that several other members of the department had been allowed to put pro-choice posters on their doors, and he questioned why ‘Humanae Vitae’ (or any other papal document) should be censored at a college that advertised itself as Roman Catholic and we have academic freedom.
“Six weeks latter she told him that the department had concluded he was a religious absolutist and had decided against renewing his contract. (see: “The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholic” by Michael W. Cuneo p 41, and here, and here)
In short, the prevailing politically correct attitude even in a Catholic college was that abortion was a morally correct action, and to take a stand against abortion was, to say the least, untoward. Anyone who was not ‘on board’ with that morality had no rights vis a vis academic freedom or freedom of speech.
To believe and act on the belief that a fetus is human and abortion violates a God given commandment (Thou Shall Not Kill!), rendered an academic persona-non-grata and not qualified or welcomed in the college. Pro-Life does not come under the aegis of academic freedom or free speech according to the professorial class.
Founding Fathers be Damned
One could go on and on with examples of the professorial classes’ arbitrary, subjective, capricious and self-serving application of the concepts of Academic Freedom and Free Speech vis a vis climate change, Darwin, AIDS, abortion, Keynesian Economics, Quantitative History Methods, etc. Even esoteric sciences like ‘continental drift’ and ‘big bang theory’ are not safe from the professorial class ideological police (see: Baur’s book cited above).
Founding Fathers be Damned: The only academics that qualify for Academic Freedom and Free Speech rights are those who march lockstep with the prevailing ideology of their so-called colleagues.
Accordingly, I generally pay no mind to the periodical dust-ups about some injustice done to a professor being denied his rights. They make for good media headlines and a couple of days of ‘talking heads’ chit-chat.
However, there was a fascinating nuance that cropped up in the Steven Salaita case, a protest letter from an Italian professor at the University of Rome.
Giorgio Mariani: Professor of American Literature at Sapienza University of Rome
Professor Mariani’s Curriculum Vitae is nothing less than staggering in terms of formal education, publications and academic honors (see here). He is an absolutely outstanding authority on nineteenth century American literature to include Native American. He currently holds the position of Full Professor of American Literature, Department of European, American, and Intercultural Studies, “Sapienza” University of Rome.
Professor Mariani weighed in on the Steven Salaita brouhaha. In “An Open Letter to the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana –Champaign” (see here), he wrote the usual clichéd complaints and indignations one would expect from an ‘in-crowd’ academician:
“I am deeply troubled by your decision, which, by all standards, based on the information I have been able to gather so far, is a flagrant violation of academic freedom.
“Criticism may at times be expressed in harsh words, and in the case at hand one does not have to agree with every single word uttered by Prof. Salaita to defend his right to express freely his views. Indeed, one may well disagree with what he says and, as Voltaire famously argued, be a staunch defender of his right to speak his mind.
OK! So nothing new here, blah blah about ‘rights’, but no mention of the above discussed selective applications of rights by the professorial class. No mention of the many violations of academic freedom that did not bring letters of compliant from Italy.
In short, his letter would not be noteworthy in the context of the above discussion of the duplicity and arbitrary capriciousness of the professorial classes' concept of academic freedom.
However, there was a truly pregnant paragraph that gives a comparative social historian pause. He wrote:
“I live in a country where the freedom of teaching is enshrined in the constitution.
The last time Italian authorities directly intervened to curb academic freedom was during the Fascist regime.
Since the days of Mussolini, not one single Italian academic has been fired or refused tenure because of his or her political views, no matter how extreme. (emp.+)
That is an amazing generalization. If true! Which is not to imply that it is not true. Only that it would be social scientifically interesting to see the documented research substantiating the generalization.
However, notice that he refers to ‘political views’.
The definition of political views is highly equivocal.
If in the narrow sense of a ‘political view’, such as “I support the Democratic Party”, then I don’t think there is any difference between America and Italy. I doubt any professors have been denied rights because they aligned or associated themselves with a mainstream political party platform.
However, there is a more general sense of the phrase ‘political views’ denoting a political moral judgment. For example, Salita’s statements are not political per se; rather they represent a condemning moral judgment about the political views of others.
I wonder if Prof. Mariani’s generalization about Italy’s tolerance of ‘political views’ holds up when this broader moral concept is applied?
For example, one may wonder how a young PhD applying for position in a northern Italian university would fair, having written a dissertation predicated on southern Italian Terroni historiography; having documented and condemned the exploitation, brutalization and denigration of the South by the North after the so-called Risorgimento?
Keeping in mind: Not being considered for a job for ideological reasons is the moral equivalent of being fired from a job for ideological reasons; i.e. denial of academic freedom and free speech. Would Italy pass that type of post-Mussolini academic freedom test?
Just a thought!
{Note: In fairness to Italy, as this blog has repeatedly documented, such a candidate would in all probability not be consider for a job in the American northern-Italian worshiping centers of Italian Studies.}
In Conclusion … Would that there be Genuine Academic Freedom!
Would that there be a university system where students are instructed in all aspects of intellectual and moral controversies. A university system where students are required to demonstrate understanding of various points of view, explain the relative weakness and strengths of the respective arguments and why they embrace one as opposed to the other.
That’s what Socrates sought after. He challenged the Sophist professorial class of his day … look at what it got him!
DISCLAIMER: Posts published in i-Italy are intended to stimulate a debate in the Italian and Italian-American Community and sometimes deal with controversial issues. The Editors are not responsible for, nor necessarily in agreement with the views presented by individual contributors.
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