Academic Freedom and Academic Orthodoxy

Abstract In this chapter, Suzanna Sherry, Professor of Constitutional Law at Vanderbilt Law School, explores the concept of academic freedom through a proposed new definition: the absence of any imposed orthodoxy. Taking this definition, universities have contributed to the current crisis by adopting an orthodoxy that promotes particular worldviews and punishes those espousing contrary views. Universities as intellectual communities have developed shared assumptions about acceptable methodologies, research questions, and conclusions, and these unwritten expectations can suppress dissenting or unconventional perspectives. Of course, these internal pressures are distinct from external political threats made by the Trump administration. But both forms of pressure can undermine the university’s commitment to truth seeking. These internal threats in particular have evoked criticism from the political right that portrays universities as ideologically uniform. While some degree of shared intellectual standards is essential for scholarly progress, more attention must be paid to maintaining space for intellectual diversity and protecting minority viewpoints within academic disciplines.