This does leave me wondering, what is the right debate, and how do we shift the debates? Shifting debates is a social and political process. It also cannot be achieved purely through abstract debate. If the right debate is “freedom” or “academic freedom,” that is also an abstract debate.
The debate needs to be about the lived conditions of the people. When I was contingent faculty, “academic freedom” was a moot point. We should discuss how to create the conditions that allow all faculty to do their work.
I would offer that intellectual censorship and department closures do impact working conditions and make faculty and even continent faculty vulnerable to firing. Many are leaving or being pushed out of states where these censorship laws and their chillin effects have taken hold. I would not bracket “academic freedom” issues as issues that have nothing to do with the working conditions of faculty and the learning conditions of everyday students. Workers should unite across all sectors, there should be a free option for higher education, and all educators should have protections, but I do think unions that represent academics should stand up for academic freedom, free speech, and vulnerable academic departments and sectors in the here and now. I don’t think any of that is too abstract to fight for. If it is, we have to figure it out.
This does leave me wondering, what is the right debate, and how do we shift the debates? Shifting debates is a social and political process. It also cannot be achieved purely through abstract debate. If the right debate is “freedom” or “academic freedom,” that is also an abstract debate.
The debate needs to be about the lived conditions of the people. When I was contingent faculty, “academic freedom” was a moot point. We should discuss how to create the conditions that allow all faculty to do their work.
I would offer that intellectual censorship and department closures do impact working conditions and make faculty and even continent faculty vulnerable to firing. Many are leaving or being pushed out of states where these censorship laws and their chillin effects have taken hold. I would not bracket “academic freedom” issues as issues that have nothing to do with the working conditions of faculty and the learning conditions of everyday students. Workers should unite across all sectors, there should be a free option for higher education, and all educators should have protections, but I do think unions that represent academics should stand up for academic freedom, free speech, and vulnerable academic departments and sectors in the here and now. I don’t think any of that is too abstract to fight for. If it is, we have to figure it out.