‘Kneecapping’ Academic Freedom
Academe, Vol. 96, p. 6, 2010
Washington University in St. Louis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-11-01
9 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2010 Last revised: 19 Dec 2010
Date Written: November 15, 2010
Abstract
As universities increasingly seek to educate students through service learning courses, law school clinics may be the bellwether for determining if faculty’s traditional academic freedom of teaching will transcend the traditional classroom or be left at the classroom door. Recent legislative and corporate efforts to interfere in the operations of law clinics indicate that academic freedom is at risk when hands-on student learning bumps up against “real world” disputes. This article examines why attacks on law school clinics are a harbinger of how academic freedom is treated when it moves out of the classroom.
The authors discuss the role of clinical legal education in American law schools and as part of the movement toward service learning in higher education. The authors review more than thirty instances of publicized interference in law school clinics since the late 1960s, and link these attacks to attempts to interfere with teaching outside of the traditional classroom in other fields, including public records requests and complaints against labor education centers at public universities, efforts to stop social work students from working for coal miner compensation, and efforts to stop public health students from helping communities document pollution sources. In each instance, the faculty involved had sought to prepare students for work in their respective academic fields by moving their learning outside the traditional classroom.
The authors analyze Association of American University Professors (AAUP) polices, applicable law, and other policies underlying academic freedom. The authors make recommendations for faculty, university administrators, and the AAUP to defend better against attacks on academic freedom in courses that occur outside of traditional classrooms. The authors note that, for many years, the AAUP has vigorously defended the academic freedom of law school clinics that have come under attack. However, the authors contend that the AAUP needs to update the meaning of academic freedom in teaching by issuing a formal statement focused on service learning.
Keywords: Academy, Academic Freedom, Association of American University Professors, AAUP, Clinic, Clinical Education, Education, Freedom in the Classroom, Higher Education, Interference in Clinical Programs, Interference in Service Learning, Internal Intrusions on Law Clinic Lawyering, Law School, University
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