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Academic freedom is the freedom of a teacher or researcher in higher institutions of learning to investigate and discuss the problems of his science and to express his conclusions, whether through publication or the instruction of students, without interference from political or ecclesiastical authority, or from the administrative officials of the institution in which he is employed, unless his methods are found by qualified bodies of his own profession to be clearly incompetent or contrary to professional ethics (p. 445).
The AAUP members who drafted the declaration viewed universities as nonpartisan entities that should stand detached from the political struggles of the outside world. Accordingly, they believed that professors should be able to freely express their opinions on controversial subjects under the protective umbrella of institutions that observe strict neutrality on all political, economic, and social issues (Weidner, 2003). Nine decades later, legal scholar Daly (2001) showed support for that idea by arguing that the speech of teachers is qualitatively different from that of other public employees, and therefore worthy of special First Amendment protection. Daily believes that many courts pay lip service to this constitutional right, but rely on the AAUP definition when ruling against educators on the subject of academic freedom. In other words, courts are more likely to cite the freedoms of parents, institutions, and teachers when they deny teachers the absolute right to control their curriculums. She suggests that if educational institutions go too far in placating the interests of students, parents, administrators, and community stakeholders, they will impinge on the academic rights of professors (Daly, 2001, p. 1).
The AAUP founders viewed conservative university trustees and presidents as the greatest threats to their academic freedom, and advocated institutional neutrality as a means of preventing a...