WUSTL.EDULee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, kicks off this year’s Assembly Series today.
His lecture, entitled “The Foundations of the Principles of Academic Freedom,” will serve as the School of Law’s Sesquicentennial Lecture. It is one of 14 speeches to be given in the Assembly Series throughout the year.
Bollinger is known throughout the legal community as a staunch defender of academic freedom and affirmative action, and has written numerous articles, essays and books regarding these and other First Amendment issues
Although he has also served as provost at Dartmouth College, Bollinger garnered recent national attention during his presidency at the University of Michigan from 1996 until 2002. Bollinger helped to create the university’s affirmative action program when he was dean of the University of Michigan Law School in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Bollinger was a supporter of affirmative action in Michigan’s admissions policies. He also served as respondent to two affirmative action cases that reached the Supreme Court.
Each school at the University was encouraged to invite a speaker of their choice to honor the Sesquicentennial. Susan Appleton, a member of the Assembly Series selection committee and the Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe CouzinsÿProfessor of Law, was principle in bringing Bollinger to speak.
According to Appleton, due to recent events, Bollinger’s speech is particularly applicable.
“Affirmative action is the number one issue in education today,” said Appleton. “We thought [that] given his role in two Supreme Court decisions he would be a good choice.”
Sophomore Joshua Spry has attended the Assembly Series in the past. He values the opportunity to hear lectures from the various speakers.
“It’s an additional facet to education here on campus,” said Spry.
While many may be familiar with the affirmative action controversy, some may be in the dark regarding the more general concept of “academic freedom.”
Michael Friedlander, a professor in the School of Law, discussed the concept of “academic freedom” in a recent article.
“Academic freedom has many dimensions: freedom to select its students, freedom to select its own faculty and to evaluate them; freedom to explore unpopular ideas,” said Friedlander
To Bollinger, the affirmative action cases fell under the scope of academic freedom because they involved a university’s right to select its own students.
Friedlander said that the University has a particularly strong history of supporting academic freedom. He currently leads the University’s chapter of American Association of University Professors (AAUP), an organization traditionally linked with academic freedom.
Friedlander supports many of Bollinger’s points, citing the importance of the faculty’s ability to choose course material and their own areas of focus.
“[Faculty] should have freedom of research and freedom to make public commentary on areas where we are experts,” said Friedlander.
Spry agreed that this is an important topic to discuss.
“It’s so pertinent to our situation,” said Spry. “In order for a teacher to do their job to the fullest they have to feel competent to educate us with everything they can.”
Friedlander is especially satisfied by Bollinger’s appearance because he feels that academic freedom is often an overlooked issue.
“So many people take it for granted,” said Friedlander. “They don’t realize all the outside pressures on a university.”
Friedlander feels that many intrusions on academic freedom go unnoticed. For example, in St. Louis, there used to be two newspapers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the more conservative Globe Democrat. The Globe Democrat put pressure on the University to fire some of its faculty members.
However, Chancellor E. H. Shepley refused to fire the criticized faculty members and continued to defend his school’s policies. That year he won the national award given by the AAUP.
To follow up on Bollinger’s speech, the AAUP is organizing a panel on Sept. 26 to discuss the role of academic freedom. Dr. Mary Burgan and Edward Foote will both give presentations on the issue and respond to questions from the audience.