Comments Elsewhere

“What is not valueless is the conception of a university as a place where questions may be asked — even if they annoy particular sets of people.”

Your concern for academic freedom is misplaced.

Lots of people ask lots of questions; some of the questions are stupid questions and some of the people are not people engaged in the scholarly community. It’s not the purpose of the University to provide a forum for just anybody to ask just any question.

The position that Summers was hounded out of was not a scholarly position but rather an administrative one. He was not a student or a faculty member, but rather a CEO; a position which (if it need exist at all) exists only to facilitate the faculty and students’ research, not to participate in it (let alone ignorantly tread on it).

If we were talking about a faculty member being hounded out of a job largely over controversial views, I’d be the first to write a letter, even if I personally think he’s a first-class numbskull. But as far as academic freedom is concerned, the entitlements of University CEOs to rant and rave about whatever they like without repercussions from the faculty that they serve, are worth less than nothing.

My sarcastic remarks about red tape are not unrelated to these points.