"Academic Freedom in the United States"

Academic freedom is an essential precondition for higher education and, more generally, for democracy. Central to the American understanding of academic freedom is the concept of “extramural utterance,” that is, professorial speech that occurs in the public sphere, which next to research, teaching, and participation in institutional governance counts as a co-equal element of academic freedom. Dr. Tiede’s lecture engages American conceptions of academic freedom, important historical academic freedom cases, and social science research on academic freedom. Central for his interrogation is how academic freedom has been understood in American culture and what role universities play in current culture wars.

Hans-Jörg Tiede is Director of Research at the American Association of University Professors.