The Nobility of Freedom: An Interview with Wisconsin Professor Donald Downs
Academic Freedom Alliance | Olivia Glunz
An excellent long-form interview with University of Wisconsin political science professor Donald Downs on his journey to value freedom, the difference between academic freedom and freedom of speech, the essential role of debate and intellectual honesty in the University, and threats to academic freedom coming from the therapeutic ethic, postmodern thinking, and the internationalization of universities.
Downs also speaks of the necessity of free speech groups and speaking up honestly—“Intellectual honesty is a term not talked about enough—it’s speaking your mind frankly…If you fudge it, then essentially, you’re lying. You might preserve your popularity, but you’ve just said something you didn’t truly believe, which means that you lied. You tarnished your intellectual soul.“
Some key excerpts from Downs related to the University:
“The whole point of the university enterprise is to question each other and arrive at what you think is the truth or the best idea in the situation. You have to make judgments constantly, but those judgments should not be narrow-minded or biased.
”If we don’t challenge and debate, the university becomes like a smorgasbord: here’s this idea over here…and this idea over there… Instead, we’re supposed to come together in a collective effort to move towards truth, to grope towards truth… no one has a monopoly on truth, and all ideas, even well-established ones, are open to challenge.”
“Unfortunately, political correctness—putting certain topics off-limits—and the repressive mentality…are crushing the intellectual spirit, the spirit of the university, in the name of politicization and improper moral censure. That’s death to an institution of learning.”
“Many universities, even those that do value free speech, will defer to pressures for speech codes and other repressive policies because they feel more beholden to groups looking to restrict speech… free speech lacks a constituency—it is either taken for granted, or its supporters are afraid to speak out because they’ll be labeled….You need people with credibility to speak out in favor of free speech. Then, those individuals need to build a like-minded group and develop a public presence.”
“The free speech and academic freedom agenda needs to be prioritized, or it will fail. This is a university, not a social club or a community group—from a normative perspective, free speech and academic freedom are the most important things. And from a practical standpoint, they need to be prioritized, or they’ll be marginalized, even forgotten.”
“Recent studies have shown that ideological agreement on campus is growing ever stronger; less political diversity typically indicates less intellectual diversity and less cognizance that an echo chamber is forming.”
“Sometimes, you have to sit and think: Can you live with yourself if you constantly cower to the mob, or to the conventional way of thinking, or because you don’t want somebody to think you’re different? It’s a question of self-reliance and self-respect…Every day on campus, little incidents arise where you have a choice to speak honestly or to retreat…your presumption should be no, you’re not going to when it matters. You can’t live in a state of self- denial.”
