Individual Academic Freedom and the Current Forces of Economics and Technology

30 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2023

See all articles by R. George Wright

R. George Wright

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

Date Written: November 21, 2023

Abstract

The various cultural constraints on higher education institutions always matter. But sometimes, such constraints are especially severe. Currently, there are increasingly severe broadly economic, specifically market-based, and technological constraints on universities, and on many traditional law schools in particular. Our concern herein is for such constraints in the many cases in which a faculty member’s speech on some matter of public interest arguably impairs a legitimate interest of the employer-university or law school. The weight of the educational institution’s interests in such academic speech cases is, for several reasons, increasing. Any balancing of the relevant individual professorial interests and the educational institutional interests in such cases should take these increasing institutional constraints into proper account.

Keywords: academic freedom, free speech, Garcetti, Pickering, adjuncts, online education

JEL Classification: K10, K20, K30

Suggested Citation

Wright, R. George, Individual Academic Freedom and the Current Forces of Economics and Technology (November 21, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4640371 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4640371

R. George Wright (Contact Author)

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law ( email )

530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
United States

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