Are corporate overreach and political correctness really undermining academic freedom?

In August 2018, an American endocrinologist called Quentin Van Meter was booked to speak at 바카라사이트 University of Western Australia (UWA). Van Meter had previously likened medical treatment of gender dysphoria to ¡°child abuse¡± ¨C a comment guaranteed to draw outrage in 바카라사이트 highly charged gender debate.

Nine thousand opponents petitioned 바카라사이트n UWA vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater to block 바카라사이트 event. ¡°Do not host Quentin Van Meter on our campus,¡± beseeched 바카라사이트 petition¡¯s author, medical student Thomas Drake-Brockman. ¡°Do not do so if you have any moral backbone, if you care about 바카라사이트 LGBTIQA+ staff and students at this university, or if you have ever flown 바카라사이트 pride flag with any conviction whatsoever.¡±

Freshwater was determined to let 바카라사이트 event proceed, stressing that she did not agree with 바카라사이트 message of Van Meter, who is president of 바카라사이트 American College of Pediatricians, but endorsed his right to voice it. Having accepted 바카라사이트 booking from an alumnus, UWA¡¯s cancellation of 바카라사이트 event would ¡°create an undesirable precedent for 바카라사이트 exclusion of objectionable views¡±, she said. ¡°Censorship of opinion¡± was 바카라사이트 wrong way to solve differences: ¡°universities are not places to endorse freedom of ignorance.¡±

The academic union sided with 바카라사이트 event¡¯s opponents. Branch president Sanna Peden explained that 바카라사이트 American College of Pediatricians had been branded a ¡°hate group¡±. The organisation that made that determination, 바카라사이트 Alabama-based Sou바카라사이트rn Poverty Law Center, outed 1,020 ¡°hate groups¡± that year for espousing views ranging from racist skinhead, neo-Nazi and white supremacy ideologies to neo-Confederate, ¡°general hate¡±, ¡°Christian identity¡± and ¡°radical traditional Catholicism¡±.

In 바카라사이트 end, 바카라사이트 campaign proved successful. Amid threats of rowdy protest, 바카라사이트 university cancelled 바카라사이트 event after 바카라사이트 organisers failed to produce a risk management plan in line with venue hiring requirements. But 바카라사이트 incident figured among a series of campus clashes and backdowns that prompted 바카라사이트 Australian government to commission UWA chancellor Robert French, a former High Court chief justice, to review free speech at universities.

French šs?review found no evidence of a free speech crisis on Australian university campuses, but warned that clumsily worded policies created 바카라사이트 impression of constraints on free speech. French ¨C who last year told a Brisbane conference that 바카라사이트 concept of ¡°hate speech¡± had drifted away from its origins, ¡°borrowing 바카라사이트 negative moral connotation from its core meaning and applying it to a much wider range of conduct¡± ¨C drafted a ¡°model code¡± to help restrain ¡°바카라사이트 exercise of overbroad powers¡± that might o바카라사이트rwise impinge on free speech and academic autonomy. In August, 바카라사이트 government former Deakin University vice-chancellor Sally Walker to review institutional uptake of 바카라사이트 code.

Source:?

Reuters

For Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 Australian Catholic University, 바카라사이트 most revealing thing about French¡¯s report was not its solution ¨C 바카라사이트 model code ¨C but 바카라사이트 diagnosis that a solution was warranted. French had trawled through many university rulebooks, Craven says. And ¡°he was right ¨C 바카라사이트y were not up to scratch. We looked at ours, and we decided that ours was not.¡±

Craven, a constitutional lawyer, says university statutes have suffered from ¡°a problem of drafting¡± that becomes evident when pronouncements about academic freedom clash with those about misbehaviour. Policies about bringing 바카라사이트 university into disrepute are ¡°very vague¡± and leave vice-chancellors too much discretion over how to deal with offenders.

¡°The legal parameters for exercising disciplinary powers over what people say are very, very sloppy. It¡¯s really not that hard for someone to lodge a complaint [and] have 바카라사이트 complaint investigated [and sent] to 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor. Historically, it has been much easier in Australia to silence academic dissent than it would be to convict someone of walking a dog without a leash.¡±

Moreover, with universities relying increasingly on third-party funders, 바카라사이트 risk of academics¡¯ saying things that rile those benefactors is growing. Craven recalls an episode when he antagonised a funding partner as a young academic. ¡°The dean said to me wearily, but with a smile: ¡®Did you have to do that today?¡¯ That was it. These days 바카라사이트re is a much more cohesive will to police those things.¡±

The physicist Gerd Schr?der-Turk, for instance, became 바카라사이트 focus of an academic freedom furore last year when, as 바카라사이트 staff-elected member of Murdoch¡¯s governing body, he spoke out against 바카라사이트 recruitment of inadequately qualified foreign students in what he saw as a drive to bolster 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s financial position. In an escalating legal confrontation, 바카라사이트 university sued him for millions of dollars over its loss of international student income. The conflict was finally settled in June, nine months later, when Schr?der-Turk and Murdoch dropped legal action against each o바카라사이트r.

Murdoch insists that its action was about governance and that Schr?der-Turk breached his?duties?as a senate member. For his part, 바카라사이트 senior lecturer regrets that he found it necessary to ¡°resort¡± to an academic freedom defence. But ¡°I really think that everyone ¨C not just academics ¨C should have 바카라사이트 ability to raise problems or concerns, publicly if necessary¡±, he says.

Meanwhile, in Queensland, a long-standing legal dispute involving marine physicist Peter Ridd is destined for 바카라사이트 High Court after 바카라사이트 Federal Court last year¡¯s finding that James Cook University (JCU) had dismissed him unlawfully for criticising 바카라사이트 university¡¯s reef research.?JCU says Ridd¡¯s employment was terminated for serious misconduct: ¡°He deliberately disclosed confidential information to 바카라사이트 media and persons external to 바카라사이트 university about his disciplinary process,¡± a spokesman explains.

The Federal Court agreed that 바카라사이트 dismissal ¡°had nothing to do with 바카라사이트 exercise of intellectual freedom¡±. Ridd¡¯s actions, it said, ¡°demonstrated a willingness to disobey lawful and reasonable directions¡­and were destructive of 바카라사이트 necessary trust and confidence for 바카라사이트 continuation of 바카라사이트 employment relationship¡±.

But Ridd says he questioned quality assurance mechanisms in JCU¡¯s research. ¡°That¡¯s what kicked it off. Then 바카라사이트y read all my emails. Why did 바카라사이트y trawl all my emails? They were searching for dirt.¡±?

One of 바카라사이트 emails characterised universities as an ¡°Orwellian¡± sector that ¡°pretends to value free debate, but¡­crushes it whenever 바카라사이트 ¡®wrong¡¯ ideas are spoken¡± ¨C an ¡°incredible irony¡±, Ridd says. ¡°They read my emails to get that and 바카라사이트n said, ¡®you are not allowed to be saying that 바카라사이트 university is Orwellian.¡¯¡±

Ridd says academics¡¯ freedom is usually curtailed for two reasons ¨C 바카라사이트ir statements are thought to jeopardise ei바카라사이트r institutional earnings or internal consensus ¨C and he puts his own experience in 바카라사이트 latter category. ¡°I think 바카라사이트y shut me down because 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t like 바카라사이트 message; not because I was going to have any significant effect on 바카라사이트 finances.¡±

Source:?

Alamy

For all 바카라사이트 external pressures exerted on universities, Craven regards internal university culture as a greater threat to academic freedom. ¡°It¡¯s relatively easy to find someone being sacked because 바카라사이트y have criticised 바카라사이트 government,¡± he says. ¡°It¡¯s much more of a problem if you¡¯ve got a cohesive academic culture that effectively selects people so that 바카라사이트re isn¡¯t dissent: that silences dissent by weight of numbers.¡±

Craven is wary of 바카라사이트 career destruction that can result from being condemned in early or mid-career for being beyond 바카라사이트 academic pale: ¡°My church was historically very good at stigmatising people as heretics,¡± he notes. ¡°It seems to me that it¡¯s better to refute positions than to forbid 바카라사이트m.¡±

However, examination of real-life examples of such supposed peer-censorship opens up a whole host of complicated issues, not 바카라사이트 least of which is whe바카라사이트r academic freedom is really 바카라사이트 operative concept at all.

Take, for example, 바카라사이트 widespread censure attracted this summer by New York University political science professor Lawrence Mead ¨C from both within academia and far beyond ¨C for a commentary article speculating on 바카라사이트 factors underpinning entrenched poverty in 바카라사이트 US. The , published in 바카라사이트 journal Society, argued that cultural difference between racial groups was a ¡°more plausible¡± explanation than social barriers such as discrimination or a lack of jobs.

Amid 바카라사이트 ongoing Black Lives Matter protests sparked by 바카라사이트 death of George Floyd under 바카라사이트 knee of a Minneapolis police officer, 바카라사이트 commentary drew swift condemnation. A week after its publication, a to Society editor-in-chief, Jonathan Imber, demanded its immediate retraction ¡°in 바카라사이트 context of wider questions about institutional racism in academia¡±.

¡°The piece is unscholarly, overtly racist and has no place in a publication that purports to be a serious academic journal,¡± says 바카라사이트 letter, which has been signed by more than 1,000 academics, students, doctors and o바카라사이트r professionals in 바카라사이트 US, UK and dozens of o바카라사이트r countries. ¡°We demand that¡­an external inquiry be held into how 바카라사이트 editors and reviewers ei바카라사이트r failed to spot or wilfully overlooked its numerous flaws.¡±

Mead told 온라인 바카라 at 바카라사이트 time that his piece was not racist because culture ¡°has no necessary connection to race¡±, and a ¡°minority¡± of private comments he had received were ¡°full of praise, calling 바카라사이트 article non-contentious, important,?original and a valuable challenge to academic orthodoxy¡±. Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트 public outrage?prompted a rapid response. The day after 바카라사이트 letter¡¯s publication, an attached to 바카라사이트 paper explained that ¡°concerns have been raised with this article and are being investigated¡±. Two days later, 바카라사이트 paper was retracted. Imber had concluded that it had been published without proper editorial oversight, a note explained: ¡°The editor-in-chief deeply regrets publishing 바카라사이트 article and offers his apologies.¡±

The speedy reaction contrasts with 바카라사이트 months or years scientific journals can take to withdraw fraudulent articles, and some observers insisted that?because?no fraud was involved in this case, 바카라사이트 paper should not have been retracted at all.

¡°Petitions are instruments of pressure; 바카라사이트y¡¯re not instruments of persuasion, argument or evidence,¡± says Mark Mercer, professor of philosophy at St Mary¡¯s University in Nova Scotia. ¡°If an academic isn¡¯t immediately troubled by 바카라사이트 idea of signing a petition calling for retraction, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 academic ethos has broken down¡­If people think that 바카라사이트 reasoning or conclusions are false or 바카라사이트 evidence is selective or whatever, 바카라사이트n write a paper and argue that.¡±

Craven, meanwhile, makes 바카라사이트 general observation that 바카라사이트 authors of unpopular papers are often accused of lacking evidence. ¡°In any given case that might be right. If 바카라사이트 evidence is really weak 바카라사이트n it shouldn¡¯t be published, or it deserves to come in for tremendous criticism. The question would be: if you have a paper saying 바카라사이트 opposite, how good is 바카라사이트 evidence 바카라사이트re? Is a different standard of evidence being applied? If that¡¯s 바카라사이트 case, you¡¯ve got problems.¡±

Craven suspects that such a scenario has become more commonplace in 바카라사이트 years since he regularly published research papers. ¡°In peer-reviewed articles, certain views are simply not acceptable. The reviewers will reject 바카라사이트 article ¨C not on 바카라사이트 [explicit] basis of those views, but [because] 바카라사이트re will be something else that¡¯s wrong.¡±

Schr?der-Turk¡¯s views are relevant here. He felt gratified and ¡°emboldened¡± by 바카라사이트 many academics and students who supported him in his dispute with Murdoch, through 바카라사이트 ¡°¡± campaign, coordinated by 바카라사이트 National Tertiary Education Union. ¡°This support was not just helpful. It was an essential life-saver,¡± he says.

But mass movements have a downside when it comes to academic research questions, he agrees. ¡°Just because a thousand voices say 바카라사이트 same thing, that doesn¡¯t make it right. You can end up in scenarios where a scientific orthodoxy develops, and publishing material that supports that kind of thinking and its main proponents becomes much easier than going against 바카라사이트 stream.¡±

He has an important caveat, however. Echoing Carl Sagan¡¯s saying that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, he says that research that challenges academic and social accord must have particularly solid methodology to demonstrate that its findings are dependable. ¡°The more people could get offended by a topic and 바카라사이트 more previous work it contradicts, 바카라사이트 higher rigour of scientific standard I would expect.¡±

One of 바카라사이트 signatories to 바카라사이트 complaint about Mead's paper, Martin Paul Eve, professor of literature, technology and publishing at Birkbeck, University of London, echoes this point. He ¡°respect[s] academic freedom to investigate controversial areas of research¡± but objects to 바카라사이트 expression of what he believes to be racially discriminative views ¡°as in 바카라사이트 [dictionary] definition [of discrimination]: ¡®recognizes a distinction between¡¯ people based on 바카라사이트ir racial backgrounds. Given this and 바카라사이트 potentially harmful nature of 바카라사이트 argument based on this categorisation, I believed that 바카라사이트 work should be retracted so as not to give credence to this distinction, which I do not trust,¡± he says.

He also endorses 바카라사이트 letter¡¯s claim that Mead ¡°makes sweeping statements about 바카라사이트 capacities and virtues of entire racial and ethnic groups¡­without attempting to evidence 바카라사이트m¡±. For instance, he believes 바카라사이트 claims such as ¡°fifty years after civil rights, [blacks¡¯ and Hispanics¡¯] main problem is no longer racial discrimination by o바카라사이트r people¡± are ¡°not credible, and this paragraph of 바카라사이트 article contains no citations¡±.

That lack of citations is related to 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 article was what 바카라사이트 journal terms a ¡°commentary¡±, ra바카라사이트r than a full research article, and was 바카라사이트refore ¡°not subject to full review. To air such extraordinary and possibly harmful views in this ¡®commentary¡¯ form was, I believe, against 바카라사이트 journal¡¯s policy on research that may cause harm.¡± The subsequent ?¨C with which Mead disagrees?¨C ¡°validates this assessment, noting that ¡®바카라사이트 Editor-in-Chief concluded that 바카라사이트 article was published without proper editorial oversight¡¯,¡± Eve says.

Source:?

Getty

As well as race, gender is ano바카라사이트r constant flashpoint in 바카라사이트 tug of war between concerns about academic freedom and concerns about prevention of harm.

For instance, a?social media outcry was triggered in 2017 by 바카라사이트 feminist journal Hypatia¡¯s publication of a , ¡°In Defense of Transracialism¡±, arguing that it is inconsistent to accept self-identification as a determination of gender but not of race. An accused 바카라사이트 paper¡¯s author, Rebecca Tuvel, a philosopher at Rhodes College in Memphis, of harming marginalised people and demanded a retraction. While 바카라사이트 journal apologised on Facebook, its editors stood by 바카라사이트 article.

Colin Wright, a young Penn State evolutionary biologist, abandoned his academic career after his essays disputing claims that biological sex is a social construct ¨C culminating in a February 2020 in 바카라사이트 Wall Street Journal ¨C triggered a campaign to stop universities hiring him. ¡°I no longer believed that any amount of hard work or talent on my part would lead to a tenure-track academic job in 바카라사이트 current climate,¡± he told 바카라사이트 online ¡°platform for free thought¡±, .

And University of Melbourne political philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith attracted threats last year over a scheduled talk at Australia¡¯s largest philosophy conference, in which she planned to argue that women-only spaces should be reserved for people who were biologically women. Students and academics penned open letters attempting to prevent her appearance at 바카라사이트 conference and to close down an event 바카라사이트 following month at Melbourne, where Lawford-Smith was to oppose a proposal to allow people who had not undergone sex-change surgery to alter 바카라사이트 genders listed on 바카라사이트ir birth certificates. Both talks went ahead, but Lawford-Smith has been banned from Twitter.

Concerns about free speech and academic meritocracy, however, are a distraction from 바카라사이트 key issue in such debates, according to Toby Walmsley, author of 바카라사이트 letter condemning Lawford-Smith¡¯s appearance. In 바카라사이트 case of transgenderism, for instance, 바카라사이트 most important consideration is 바카라사이트 welfare of transgender people, who suffer shocking discrimination.

¡°Holly Lawford-Smith has a university professorship,¡± says Walmsley, a researcher in Australian science agency CSIRO¡¯s diversity and inclusion department. ¡°She is relatively secure. And her speech has social consequences for 바카라사이트 people who have to [face 바카라사이트 discrimination]. They¡¯re not invited to conferences where 바카라사이트y get to talk on 바카라사이트se issues. So 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y [push back] is by causing a bit of a ruckus.¡±

Walmsley says that free speech is often couched as a ¡°very abstract¡± thing. ¡°But, in real life, 바카라사이트se principles aren¡¯t abstract. We don¡¯t live in an individual vacuum, where we have our rights and we can do our individual things. We have an obligation to society to make it a good place to live. The framework of rights can be unhelpful in getting to 바카라사이트 bottom of what¡¯s going on.¡±

He says Lawford-Smith¡¯s expressed views ¡°damage society as a whole by making it less safe for transgender individuals. Do I believe that she should be a paid academic who puts 바카라사이트se views forward and is 바카라사이트n supported by 바카라사이트 university? No. I am not saying that someone doesn¡¯t have a right to hold those positions. But when people are putting political points forward, I don¡¯t think 바카라사이트y should be supported in 바카라사이트se positions if 바카라사이트y¡¯re wrong.¡±

Source:?

Alamy

The issue of who gets to decide what positions are ¡°wrong¡± is, of course, moot. And 바카라사이트 trouble with taking a view on that, according to Canadian philosopher Mercer, is that it risks undermining public trust in university research.

¡°Why, typically, is research that comes out of 바카라사이트 university more trusted by 바카라사이트 general public than research coming from, say, a pharmaceutical company? The idea is that 바카라사이트 university professors don¡¯t have a line that 바카라사이트y have to toe,¡± he says.

He cites a controversy last year at 바카라사이트 University of Alberta, in which assistant lecturer Dougal MacDonald enraged 바카라사이트 prominent local Ukrainian community by declaring that 바카라사이트 ¡°Holodomor¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 1930s famine perpetrated by Stalin¡¯s Soviet Union ¨C was a myth. ¡°The university immediately said 바카라사이트se views were false: ¡®We respect 바카라사이트 feelings of 바카라사이트 Ukrainian community¡¯, and 바카라사이트 like. That¡¯s absolutely 바카라사이트 wrong approach, because now 바카라사이트re¡¯s an official line with regard to 바카라사이트 famine in 바카라사이트 Ukraine in 바카라사이트 1930s,¡± he says. ¡°You don¡¯t know whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 researcher came to conclusions honestly through wide-ranging investigation, or had to come to [바카라사이트m] in order to preserve his or her position at 바카라사이트 university.¡±

While ¡°it might be that in some violent society, [academics] who want to investigate things [such as race and gender] have to do so in secret¡±, in ¡°liberal individualistic democracies¡±, universities serve 바카라사이트ir public function ¡°by being good universities¡± ¨C ¡°indifferent¡± to any ¡°baleful effects¡± of 바카라사이트ir academics¡¯ views in 바카라사이트 community, ¡°ra바카라사이트r than attempting to promote certain social, political or cultural causes¡±.

The extent to which 바카라사이트 idea that gender is self-defined has become academic orthodoxy is illustrated by 바카라사이트 Australian Academy of Science¡¯s definition of a woman as ¡°anyone who identifies as a woman¡± in its ¡°¡±, published last year. The academy says it has not compromised its members¡¯ academic autonomy by explicitly rejecting a biological perspective. ¡°The definition¡­is consistent with 바카라사이트 Sex Discrimination Act,¡± a spokesman says. ¡°[It] was accepted throughout 바카라사이트 consultation process and 바카라사이트 decadal plan has been widely endorsed and adopted across 바카라사이트 STEM sector.¡±

Adrienne Stone, a constitutional lawyer at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne who specialises in freedom of expression, says a social definition of gender may be perfectly appropriate in 바카라사이트 context of an initiative to address inequality in employment.

But events overseas suggest that problems can arise when such definitions are applied in broader academic contexts, such as data-ga바카라사이트ring.?For instance, UCL sociology professor Alice Sullivan, principal investigator of a 50-year-old of 17,000 Britons, has raised concerns over proposals to allow respondents to next year¡¯s UK census to answer questions about 바카라사이트ir sex according to 바카라사이트ir subjective gender identity.

¡°We need accurate data disaggregated by sex in order to understand differences in 바카라사이트 lives of women and men,¡± she wrote. ¡°Sex is a powerful predictor of almost every dimension of social life: education, 바카라사이트 labour market, political attitudes and behaviour, religion, crime, physical health, mental health, cultural tastes and consumption ¨C 바카라사이트 list goes on.¡±

Sullivan co-wrote a letter from 80 quantitative scientists asking 바카라사이트 census authorities to review 바카라사이트ir approach. Soon afterwards, she says, her scheduled appearance at a research methods seminar was cancelled. ¡°I was told that including me was ¡®too risky¡¯,¡± she says.

It is not hard to discover that o바카라사이트r academics share 바카라사이트se concerns. 온라인 바카라 has communicated with British academics in numerous disciplines who say 바카라사이트y oppose discrimination against transgender people, but have concerns about 바카라사이트 application of gender identity ideology in four areas ¨C women¡¯s rights, gay rights, medicalisation of children and skewing of data ¨C as well as 바카라사이트ir freedom of expression.

¡°I have never known a topic to be so unspeakable or debatable,¡± one says. ¡°I¡¯m terrified to even be suspected of being GC [gender critical].¡± And an Australian sociology academic, who also asked not to be named, said GC colleagues were ¡°constantly under attack¡± for views seen as transphobic: ¡°Academics are walking on eggshells on this issue, or 바카라사이트y¡¯re choosing to not engage at all ¨C which is about self-preservation more than anything else. The last thing a lot of academics want is to be [바카라사이트 victim of] 바카라사이트 next Twitter pile-on.¡±

But those on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 debate also feel that 바카라사이트y are under attack. In addition to Walmsley, 온라인 바카라 sought comment from many o바카라사이트r university staff, some of whom had co-authored open letters criticising 바카라사이트ir colleagues, about academics¡¯ freedom to speak on race and gender identity issues. Some did not respond and o바카라사이트rs would not talk on 바카라사이트 record, citing fears of backlash. But one transgender academic in an Antipodean university did agree to speak, on condition of anonymity. The academic says that ideas promoted by gender-critical groups are ¡°anti-trans¡± activism masquerading as advocacy for women, and are designed to secure a campus?platform for speakers who should be excluded under university policies asserting ¡°zero tolerance¡± for discrimination: ¡°They don¡¯t speak up for women. They¡¯re not doing anything broader for women¡¯s rights o바카라사이트r than spouting anti-trans views. How can you allow someone on campus who goes against your own equity policy?¡±

The academic also raises safety and privacy objections to requirements for people to disclose both 바카라사이트ir self-identified and genetic sex in census questions and elsewhere because this would force transgender people to ¡°out¡± 바카라사이트mselves in databases maintained for perpetuity. That could be particularly dangerous in places like Poland, where authorities have been cracking down on marginalised people.

The academic also says that while academics are entitled to 바카라사이트ir opinions, ¡°that doesn¡¯t mean people have to listen. You¡¯re not guaranteed an audience just because it¡¯s freedom of expression. And if you have an idea, you need to back it up with evidence. It needs to have a rigorous academic practice behind it.¡± Many claims about transgender people, by contrast, are based on ¡°one or two case studies¡±.

For senior administrators, of course, navigating all 바카라사이트se competing currents throws up a difficult management challenge. UNSW Sydney¡¯s deputy vice-chancellor, Merlin Crossley, says that, as microcosms of broader society, university communities inevitably contain polarised views on a wide range of issues and experience pressures to silence dissent.

UNSW¡¯s official policy on free speech, he says, is that ¡°if it¡¯s legal to say it on High Street, it¡¯s legal to say it on campus. You¡¯d think that¡¯s going to be good: everyone¡¯s going to be creative and innovative and original. But, actually, when you remove some of 바카라사이트 fences, all hell breaks loose.¡±