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The various definitions of academic freedom in the United States reflect the influence of social and political norms in its interpretation as both a professional and legal right. Yet, underlying these interpretations is the operational understanding, which includes both legal and professional considerations, that academic freedom is a widely recognized principle that grants professors the autonomy and authority to explore intellectual questions within their academic disciplines, conduct professional work, and express their views in the public sphere without undue interference or suppression. In other words, academic freedom is a foundational principle rooted in legal and institutional frameworks that safeguards professors’ ability to engage in intellectual inquiry, professional practice, and public discourse without undue interference. This principle extends beyond mere professional courtesy. It is recognized as essential to the functioning of higher education institutions and the broader democratic exchange of ideas. The public (including policymakers, industry leaders, media, and students) generally acknowledges academic freedom as an inherent protection that protects from unjustified interferences. By doing so, professors can participate in governance, disciplinary leadership, and extramural activities without the fear of retaliation or coercion. By insulating academic work from ideological, political, or economic constraints, academic freedom maintains the legitimacy and independence of scholarly inquiry in service to both knowledge advancement and the public good.
- academic freedom
- academic profession
- professional norms
- constitutional protections
- tenure
- marketplace of ideas
- democratic discourse
Academic freedom has a multifaceted history shaped by cultural, institutional, and political factors. As a foundational work, Arthur Lovejoy, in the 1930 iteration of the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, described the professional concept in the following manner: “Academic Freedom is the freedom of the teacher or research worker in higher institutions of learning to investigate and discuss the problems of his science and to express his conclusions, whether through publication or in the instruction of students, without interferences from political or ecclesiastical authority, or from the administrative officials of the institutions in which he is employed, unless his methods are found by qualified bodies of [one’s] own profession to be clearly incompetent or contrary to professional ethics” [1] (p. 384). Nonetheless, the idealized and fundamental bases of academic freedom have never been fully uncorrupted. Influences from outside forces, university administration, and even from the internal operations of the profession have led to an evolutionary change, including redefining the boundaries and drawing greater divides between the legal and professional conceptions of its meaning (see, e.g., [2][3]).
Given the nuances and shifting nature of academic freedom, this article takes a narrow focus to examine academic freedom in its past, current, and future forms in the US. I begin by contextualizing how US academic freedom was borne from global roots before focusing on how it has evolved as both a professional and legal right for American faculty, as well as how it has been interpreted by scholars across a range of perspectives. I then turn to showing the practical implications of academic freedom on the work of professors, highlighting how the courts have interpreted protections for academic freedom in US case law. Finally, because academic freedom in the US is currently in decline [4], as it is in many other countries [5][6][7], I conclude by examining the threats and challenges that may further weaken its protections both nationally and worldwide.
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/encyclopedia5020064
References
- Lovejoy, A.O. Academic Freedom. In Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences; Seligman, E., Johnson, A., Eds.; Macmillan: New York, NY, USA, 1930; pp. 384–387.
- Sun, J.C. Academic Freedom: Its Historical Development, Current State, and Future Challenges. In American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges, 5th ed.; Bastedo, M.N., Altbach, P.G., Gumport, P.J., Eds.; Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD, USA, 2023; pp. 37–67.
- Whittington, K.E. What Can Professors Say in Public? Extramural Speech and the First Amendment. Case West. Reserve Law Rev. 2023, 73, 1121–1175.
- Sun, J.C.; Turner, H.A. Vise Gripping Academic Freedom: Controlling the Learning Movement That Supports Minoritized Voices. J. Coll. Univ. Law 2025, 49, 177–225.
- Kinzelbach, K.; Lindberg, S.I.; Lott, L. Academic Freedom Index 2024 Update. FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and V-Dem Institute. 2024. Available online: https://academic-freedom-index.net/research/Academic_Freedom_Index_Update_2024.pdf (accessed on 11 May 2025).
- Maassen, P. Erosion of Academic Freedom in the European Union. Int. High. Educ. 2024, 120, 6–7.
- Altbach, P.G.; Mathews, E. India: Politics and Threats to Academic Freedom. Int. High Educ. 2025, 120, 6–7.
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