What's the value of a free exchange of ideas for a healthy democracy? Expert speakers will discuss this issue in a College of Wooster event series this fall, Democracy and Academic Freedom, A Forum.
“Academic freedom is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. The freedom to learn and openly express ideas, to question and form hypotheses, generate findings, and suggest solutions is what makes it possible for people and communities to thrive,” The College of Wooster President Anne McCall said. “Academic freedom is not a license to say whatever we want without consequence; rather, it puts ideas out into society so that they can be improved, refuted or adopted through continued debate and dialogue.”
The following events are open to the public. They will be held in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St., and livestreamed on wooster.edu. Free parking is available at the Scheide Music Center and nearby lots on University Street.
—Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.: Eve Darian-Smith will open the series with Contemporary Attacks on Academic Freedom: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, a talk addressing attacks on colleges across the United States and similar attacks now occurring around the world. Darian-Smith is a distinguished professor and chair of the department of global and international studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her most recent book, “Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters,” examines the essential role of higher education and academic freedom in thriving democracies.
—Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.: Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, will deliver the annual Constitution Day and Bell Distinguished Lectureship in Law titled The Art of the Deal: Free Speech in the Age of Trump. Greene is the author of “How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights is Tearing America Apart,” as well as numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on constitutional law and theory.
—Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m.: Robert Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, will deliver the annual Lindner Lecture in Ethics titled Academic Freedom and Academic Responsibility. Talisse, author of “Civic Solitude: Why Democracy Needs Distance,” will explore the responsibilities that correspond with the guarantee of academic freedom and the liberty of professors to pursue and teach their areas of expertise.
