This is an irresponsible article about academic freedom published in the Chronicle of Higher Education (where else?). It's irresponsible because it (deliberately?) confuses some basic concepts. The authors write, "we believe that it is a serious violation of academic freedom to penalize a faculty member, including an emeritus one, for expressing unpopular views." It's one thing to express an unpopular opinion and quite another to offer the sort of misogyny published in the Wall Street Journal. And it's one thing to punish someone and quite another to stop promoting and celebrating one's association with someone. Academic freedom does not entail endorsement. To suggest it does expresses a sort of entitlement that casts suspicion on the entire professoriate.
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