Academic Freedom Is Social Justice
An important read on academic freedom by Carole Hooven, Harvard evolutionary biologist and author of T: The Story of Testosterone, who is on leave after being ostracized for citing the biological binary, claiming “there are two (and only two) sexes, male and female, and they are based on the types of gametes organisms are designed to produce.”
As she writes, “While some…may sincerely believe that subverting science is necessary to protect an oppressed or endangered population, department chairs and university presidents are tasked with ensuring that the campus environment is one in which the fundamental ideals of truth-seeking and academic freedom are not only defended, but actively promoted. It should not be too much to ask that they firmly hold the line between ignorance and knowledge, between subjective and objective, between our feelings and the facts…”
“…Students have become conditioned to believe that it is their right to be free from offense…and they have framed ringing endorsements of academic freedom as covert defenses of bigotry and injustice.”
Hooven’s proposed solutions? “University leaders must be encouraged to develop a moral compass, integrity, and a backbone…the university’s position on academic freedom must be clearly stated and frequently trumpeted…Administrators should never weigh in on the accuracy of controversial or offensive claims…[and] university leadership must frequently remind the campus community that the foremost mission of a university is the pursuit, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge.”
Finally, “Those of us who work in [universities] have a responsibility to resist the temptation to keep quiet when falsehoods dressed as facts are promulgated. We also have a duty to articulate and defend the principles of academic freedom. Our role as academics is to do our best work independent of the ideological zeitgeist.”
Related:
Harvard’s Carole Hooven Canceled for Biological Facts (November 2022)
Nearly 250 Harvard Affiliates Sign ‘Free Speech’ Petition Addressed to University Presidential Search Committee (November 2022)
Harvard’s Next President Must Address the School’s Free Speech Problem (October 2022)
