From an Interview published by the Academic Freedom Alliance.
Q.: You frequently publish articles at a variety of outlets. Many of your writings deal with important economic matters, but you also explore other big questions through the topics of literature, art, and culture. Finding controversy seems to be getting easier these days, even with subjects that were completely uncontroversial only years ago. My question is this, how important is the protection of extramural speech, as part of a broader defense of academic freedom, for academics who want to write and publish as you do?
A: The idea of academic specialization is relatively new. Before the start of the 20th century, it was common for scholars to write about matters beyond the narrow fields in which they had expertise. One of the advantages of working at a small liberal arts college is that there is not the expectation of staying in your narrow research lane. Ideas are not bound by the modern divisions in the academy; there is much to be learned when experts in one area of knowledge explore other areas. For academic freedom to have any meaning, a scholar must have the freedom to roam widely on the intellectual terrain. If academic freedom only applies to narrow bands of research and others are allowed to determine what constitutes that narrow band, then there really is no academic freedom.
It is true that not all speech is covered by academic freedom. A scholar cannot make death threats and then plead that academic freedom means they should not be fired for doing so. But, we need to be very careful to keep small the realm of speech uncovered by academic freedom. This is particularly vital in the classroom. There is a strong temptation in colleges to claim that academic freedom does not include the right to say things which upset students. This temptation must be fiercely opposed if academic freedom is to have any meaning.
You can read the rest of the interview at the Academic Freedom Alliance
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