This session is in collaboration with the Platform for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (PETAL), School of Education and Human Development, and Faculty Senate.

Can professors teach controversial or allegedly 'divisive' concepts in class?  Do students have a right not to be offended by ideas or information conveyed in class?  These and similar questions are roiling higher education across the country, especially in Florida.  In response, professors claim the right to 'academic freedom.'  But what is academic freedom? A value upheld for one's supporters (but not one's opponents) when discussing a polarizing controversy? Or a narrow claim of privilege by a professorial elite, immune from public accountability? Academic freedom—like its cousin, freedom of speech—cannot easily be defined but, instead, emerges from the contextual application of guiding principles developed and modified over time. This session will examine its application to classroom teaching and offer suggestions about how to differentiate genuine and constructive discussions of pedagogy from assaults on the freedom to teach.

Henry Reichman is a Professor Emeritus of History at California State University, East Bay, and the author of Understanding Academic Freedom (2021) and The Future of Academic Freedom (2019).  He served as chair of the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2012 to 2021.  He is presently co-chairing the AAUP's special investigation of attacks on higher education in Florida.

Interested in attending events and programs related to teaching? Visit petal.miami.edu