Columbia University: Faculty Academic Freedom Debate

Case Materials

• "Letter from Columbia President Lee Bollinger to FIRE," January 18, 2005
• "Columbia Embroiled in Academic Freedom Controversy; FIRE Defends Student Expression," FIRE Press Release, January 11, 2005: For many weeks, Columbia University has been roiled by charges of anti-Semitism and ideological bias in its Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department.  As the controversy gained increasing public attention, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) wrote Columbia to defend the MEALAC faculty.  Unfortunately, however, the NYCLU failed to recognize the true extent of student academic freedom to dissent from departmental ideology and did not properly address the charges of ideological indoctrination.  In response to requests from the Columbia community, FIRE has written President Lee Bollinger a letter that properly outlines the relationship between student, faculty, and institutional academic freedom.
• "FIRE Letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, January 10, 2005," January 10, 2005

Media Coverage

• "Inquiring Minds," John Gravois, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 15, 2005: But for David French, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia-based watchdog group, the mere threat of an investigation into offensive but constitutionally protected speech is an affront to academic freedom.
• "Bollinger Unlikely To Put Restrictions on Political Bias in Classroom," Jacob Gershman, The New York Sun, April 11, 2005: The president of the Philadelphia based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, David French, said a university shouldn't "punish" a professor for being biased.
• "Outsiders Respond To Ad Hoc Report," James Romoser, Columbia Spectator, April 11, 2005: The March 31st report on the controversy surrounding Middle East studies had some strong words for outside organizations that have inserted themselves into the debate, but that hasn’t kept those organizations silent.
• "A Free-Speech War," Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, March 11, 2005: On February 15, The New York Sun, in a front-page story, reported: "A Columbia University professor who has called Israel a 'racist' state with an 'apartheid system,' and who has supported attacks by Palestinian Arabs on Israelis, is scheduled to lecture a group of New York City public school teachers on how to teach Mideast politics to schoolchildren.
• "Academic Freedom For Some," David French, Front Page Magazine, March 4, 2005: When it comes to the basic protections of due process and academic freedom, it often appears that students and professors live in two worlds – one world for those who follow the current academic political orthodoxy and another for those who dissent.  Take for example, two untenured professors at major universities, Joseph Massad of Columbia and Thomas Klocek of Depaul. 
• "N.Y. School Board Bans a Controversial Arab Professor," Nathaniel Popper, Forward, February 25, 2005
• "Defining Free Speech," Greg Lukianoff, Columbia Spectator, February 18, 2005: Four months after The David Project released Columbia Unbecoming, Columbia is embroiled in a public fight over allegations against the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department. The latest, longer version of the film includes more examples of what it sees as “bias,” “intimidation,” and “harassment.” While The David Project and its supporters have every right to protest and expose perceived abuses at Columbia, it is essential for all involved to understand that nothing described in the film constitutes either harassment or intimidation in any formal sense.
• "Speaker Discusses MEALAC And Academic Freedom," Lisa Hirshmann, Columbia Spectator, February 11, 2005: Open discourse on the controversy in Columbia’s Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures department regarding academic freedom continued Thursday night with the appearance of civil rights leader Michael Meyers on campus.
• "Ad Hoc Sessions on Freedom of Speech Controversy Begin," Lisa Hirschmann, Columbia Spectator, January 21, 2005: Today, and every Monday and Friday until late February, the ad hoc faculty committee founded in response to the controversy surrounding Columbia’s Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department will meet to try to find out just what went wrong.
• "Free Speech in Class Under Fire at Columbia," Fox News, January 21, 2005: There's a battle going on at Columbia University over freedom of speech in the classroom.
• "Democracy on Campus," Fox Report, January 20, 2005
• "Intimidated Classrooms," Nat Hentoff, The Village Voice, January 18, 2005: The New York Civil Liberties Union has blundered into the growing controversy at Columbia University about charges by students in Middle East studies (MEALAC) that they are bullied and silenced in classrooms by certain professors who are vehemently anti-Israel. Professors have the right to compare Sharon with Goebbels or to declare Israel not to be a legitimate state—but do dissenting students have no academic freedom to question those professorial views in class? The NYCLU says that's up to the professor.
• "Pro-Israel Students Seek Reprieve from Profs' Alleged Anti-Semitic Bias," Jim Brown, Agape Press, January 18, 2005: (AgapePress) - Professors in the Middle East studies department at Columbia University are being accused of anti-Semitism and ideological bias.
• "Academic Freedom Group Enters Fray," Jacob Gershman, The New York Sun, January 11, 2005: The New York Civil Liberties Union came under sharp criticism yesterday from another civil-liberties group, which says it is sanctioning censorship in the classroom at Columbia University.
• "Sexton Takes On Issues of Tenure, Academic Freedom," Jacob Gershman, The New York Sun, December 3, 2004