UC is changing their Academic Freedom rules to allow political expression but to safeguard freedom of thought. Or something like that. It's nuanced.

The new policy, drafted by UC Berkeley law Professor Robert Post, an expert on the First Amendment, says that UC is committed to upholding and preserving principles of academic freedom that "guarantee freedom of inquiry and research, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression and publication."

The idea is that you can present an opinion, but have to allow freedom to dissent and freedom of expression. The example given is

the faculty conduct code protected students from propaganda in the classroom, such as a chemistry professor spending a week talking about the war in Iraq.

I don't see that in the general rule above. Seems more like the Chemistry Professor can spend all the time he wants on Iraq, so long as his students can complain about it. And I'd say protecting against that is the more important safeguard. The Snehal class, as brazen as it was, was a 25 person class that clearly explained in advance exactly what would be the correct mode of thinking. It was going to self-select for students who enjoy that sort of groupthink, and no one would care. Same with Professor Nader's infamous Controlling Processes class: you know what you're getting into. It's Professors that stray from important subject matter to bitch about their voting preferences that are the most dangerous. Or the Professors that cancel class 'To let us all protest the war.' It's uncommon, but it's the biggest abuse and the most difficult to stop.

That being said, a rule that actually applies, rather then a dead-letter, is much more useful.Email This Post!