Academic Freedom | The Socjournal

There is no doubt that being a university professor is a privilege, and certainly protected speech is one of them. Not always, but sometimes, university researchers say things that other people don’t like. Tobacco is addictive, cell phones might cause brain cancer, and class warfare wages on. Some people might not like us to say these things, like the Tobacco lobby for example, or the uber rich people who control the world, but society and democracy benefits from open intellectual criticism and debate. It is why the right to free speech was enshrined in the first place. We need to stand up for our right to speak without censure, without reprisal, and without fear. In the age of an open Internet society, anything else seems medieval, backwards, and just plain wrong.

Timothy McGettigan | Oct 10, 2012 | Comments 3