Summary
The principle that ideas in the university are evaluated on their merits and that teaching and debate are not restricted by political classification; in Stern’s testimony it is the test of any measure against campus Antisemitism — approaches consistent with it work, approaches that harm it fail and make the problem worse (Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, PDF p.3).
Details
- Stern’s early-1990s monograph for college presidents put first: do not violate academic freedom or free speech, while speaking out promptly against bigotry and punishing conduct where appropriate (PDF p.2).
- The Antisemitism Awareness Act is opposed on this ground: it would chill professors from teaching modern Israel and Zionism and from assigning Arendt, Buber or contemporary Palestinians, and would turn administrators into police of anti-Israel political speech (PDF p.13-14).
- In Barghouti’s account, academic freedom “carries with it obligations, such as the duty to respect the academic freedom of others”, and where persistent denial of basic rights is recognized, resisting injustice supersedes considerations about academic freedom — the basis of his critique of the American Association of University Professors and defence of the Academic boycott (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, PDF p.95, p.99-100).
Where sources disagree
- Stern and Barghouti invoke academic freedom to opposite conclusions on the academic boycott: a blacklist violating the principle for Stern; a tactic the principle’s own obligations can require, in Barghouti’s argument, against institutions complicit in denying Palestinian academic freedom.
Related pages
Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, Academic boycott, Antisemitism Awareness Act