Escape from Academic Freedom

Abstract:

The university, an institution dating back to at least the eleventh century, was conceived as a community of scholars and learners. But does the contemporary abandonment of truth pursuits constitute an escape from our traditional responsibilities? As Erich Fromm put it, “It happens that some interests are furthered by finding the truth, others by destroying it.” Academia has undergone a restructuring, actively displacing truth-tellers in favor of market interests. The search for truth will remain a focus of colleges and universities to the extent that individual faculty and students defy functionaries to tell it.

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