Throughout our discussion on the topic of autonomy, and whether or not professors/academics are tenured, therefore having the ability to be autonomous or not, I began to wonder what sense any of it makes. The ability to be autonomous should not depend on whether or not an academic is tenured. If this was true, then logically, would students ever be fully educated with a complete knowledge on all view points, all opinions, and the different sides to issues regarding society.
Academics, and individuals in general, should have some sensory in what they, because, although it may be a valid point, it may be something totally off base and unless all the facts are truly there, it should not be stated at all, due to the incident with Kevin Barrett.
While academics should sensor some of what they say when the evidence, and or public, may not be on the same page, they should be allowed to state their view points and facts regarding certain issues within society, without needing to be tenured at an institution. Tenure should count for something, and should allow academics to feel more comfortable with being autonomous, but those that are not tenured should not feel that they have a zero percent ability to be autonomous because of fearing the loss of their job.
This should never be the case, because then us, as students, are never really sure if we are receiving accurate information, and are unsure of different view points, different angles, and different facts that might play an important role in how we are educated about situations within our society.
Alyssa-- I completely agree that ALL academics should have academic freedom-- and that no adunct or part-time faculty member should be allowed to be fired simply for something they argue in a scholarly article or in a political speech or in a classroom debate. In fact most colleges and universities have policies explicitly protecting academic freedom for all faculty and students. Yet, in practice, it has proved very very difficult to protect academic freedom for adjuncts and nontenured faculty. An adjunct faculty member on a year to year or course to course contract whose views offend the college president or the board of trustees can always be fired ostensibly "for no reason" as an "at will employee." This is one reason the American Association of University Professors opposes the steady expansion in the # of adjunct faculty: it erodes tenure and the erosion of tenure undermines academic freedom.
ReplyDelete