Let’s debate the sufficiency of academic freedom. I see a huge shortfall in the liberty of college students to bypass stale doctrine in order to get accredited. The Thomas Jefferson College (at GVSU) should be re-established. It was one of a handful of colleges with no specific loyalty test in the way to a degree.
This liberty is needed for science as well as the creative arts. My own independent work shows up the results of an entrenched priesthood in academic physics. Sooner or later, physics students will attain an alternative path to work in the field. I fear that it may be centuries rather than just years before this happens.
It was a decade ago that I thought of a “Spinoza Free University” - where workers and students could simply declare their affiliation and competencies. This was in honor of the brilliant philosopher who declined a professorship due in part to the doctrinal tests in place, and could only publish anonymously due to the physical enforcement of orthodoxy.
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Michael J. Burns
