Discretion Is Not the Better Part of Academic Freedom

"Keith E. Whittington, professor of law at Yale Law School and director of the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech, argues in The Chronicle of Higher Education that in the wake of the Kirk assassination, professors need to self-censor and refrain from offensive comments or else the rights of academic freedom may be scaled back. Although Whittington is trying to defend academic freedom by urging discretion rather than repression, it's a misguided argument to claim that freedom will survive only if professors censor themselves more."

"Whittington says about professors in the classroom, "They are expected to limit themselves to speech that is both germane and competent. Classroom speech that hampers or departs from those professional duties can subject a professor to appropriate discipline. Professors who told their students that Kirk deserved to die will likely have little defense against punishment.""

"Whittington is incorrect. Professors need to generally teach their classes in ways that are germane to the subject and competent (the standard is "avoid persistently intruding material which has no relation to their subject"). But it does not follow that professors must always "limit themselves to speech that is both germane and competent." This view that uttering one word deemed off-topic or incorrect in the classroom would subject a professor to punishment and they would have "little defense" is a standard far too restrictive under any meaningful sense of academic freedom."

A call for professors to self-censor and refrain from offensive comments follows the Kirk assassination, with claims that failure could prompt scaling back of academic freedom. The claim that classroom speech must always be both germane and competent is challenged as overly restrictive. Teaching requires avoiding persistent intrusion of unrelated material, but isolated off-topic or emotionally expressive remarks should not trigger discipline. Thousands of professors expressed grief and condemnation about the assassination, showing that ordinary classroom reactions often depart from narrow course content without warranting severe sanctions.

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