Shared Governance and Academic Freedom: The Foundations of Higher Education and Their Uncertain Future

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/29/2021
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm

The Center for Media Law and Policy will be joining with UNC’s Graduate School and Royster Society of Fellows to present a panel discussion on academic freedom and shared governance at universities in the U.S.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote that “our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us, and not merely to the teachers concerned. That freedom is therefore a special concern of the First Amendment.” The Court observed that “the Nation’s future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth ‘out of a multitude of tongues, [rather] than through any kind of authoritative selection’.”

While the history of higher education is one of constant tensions among state, private and faculty power, recent attacks on the work of researchers and educators are more subject to disinformation and political polarization than in decades past. The sometimes indistinct boundaries of academic freedom make the discussion about what it is or should be more challenging; the public itself is largely disconnected from that discussion and how such principles and practices serve or should serve them.

Panelists:

• Lindsie Rank, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
• Deen Freelon, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
• Buck Goldstein, UNC Department of Economics
• Sallie Shuping-Russell, Carolina Research Ventures

The event will held on Zoom and is open only to members of the UNC community.  For more information and to register, please visit the Royster Society of Fellows’ event page here.