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Posted by John Furedy on 22:06:21 2005/03/31
In Reply to: Re: U of T's academic dummy list posted by Al Gordon
To me the worst aspect of this letter is that it purports to "defend academic freedom", and the student paper (Varsity) that published the letter (by the way, one of the co-signers is the Varsity's editor) had it under the title of "Defending Academic Freedom".
The text of the letter makes it clear that the co-signers believe that academic freedom protects on from having one's claims criticised. This sort of protection is available for those professors who indoctrinate rather than educate their students. In those classes, no student can afford to criticise, as the professor is the sole arbiter of the mark that the student gets in the course. This sort of protection is also available to rulers in totalitarian regimes, and many on Canadian campuses have accepted a velvet totalitarian version of this sort of academic freedom for faculty.
If I seem harsh on my colleagues, it is becuase I have been very favorably impressed with the UofT's handling these controversial issues. It has stood by academic freedom in its proper sense, which is the right of all in the academic community to advance and argue for controversial views. In contrast to some other universities like York, UofT has stood firmly by this principle in recent years. The dummies who signed this letter, on the other hand, want immunity from criticism of their views. They do not understand that the function of a university is the search for truth, not protection from uncomforable opinions.
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