Defending academic freedom is a full-strength emergency on the deck. From the current government’s scrutiny of higher education (and enforcement orders) to state legislation over- and campus bad actors, the threat to academic freedom is numerous and terrible.
As a leader in a program focused on free expression and academic freedom, I see faculty and campus leaders confused about how to respond: Where to start? How to make a difference in defending academic freedom?
I have an answer, at least if you are a graduate faculty, dean or director of graduate studies: make plans to prepare for professors in graduate (Tomorrow) to defend academic freedom.
Graduate students often feel too urgent to focus on anything other than a course or paper, so they are unlikely to learn academic freedom on their own even if they know where to find reliable information. It is a serious and approachable topic that teachers have the responsibility to put academic freedom before graduate students. If their professors and directors of graduate studies have not taught them about academic freedom, they will not be prepared to face the issue of academic freedom when they appear, as they certainly will, especially in today’s climate.
An example: When I met with senior graduate students at R-1 University, a student talked about the experience of junior team members and reviewed the submission of the diary. He reported that another team member advocated rejection of the manuscript because its findings could be used to advance public policy positions favored by some politicians the colleague opposed. The student was bothered by political factors as well as methodological and academic scholarships, but he reportedly had no knowledge or confidence to respond effectively. Most importantly: His graduate school preparation was not fully prepared to understand and take action to the principle of academic freedom.
This is a summer action plan for graduate faculty, deans and provosts to ensure we do not allow the next generation of scholars to apply the principles of academic freedom and how they are applied in teaching, scholarship and extracurricular settings.
Add academic freedom meetings on training. The positioning of an admission graduate student is to start an opportunity to educate about academic freedom.
Patrick Kain, associate professor of philosophy at Purdue University, provides an introduction to the academic freedom rights and responsibilities of graduate students during his postgraduate training in his department. His conferences cover First Amendment, state law and campus policy. He provides written guidance on how to do it, especially their role as teaching assistants (“Beware of the impact of your expression on others”); what not to do (“Don’t force speeches”); and what they should expect (“The student’s experience and sensitivity to the expressions of others will be different”).
Reflecting on his experience, Kain said in a presidency of these targeted meetings: “Lesson students, especially those who join us from completely different cultures and institutions, are very grateful for the clear interpretation of the basic rules of academic freedom and free expression on campus.” He added: “This allows them to be assured to imagine how they pursue their work with integrity during these difficult times and what they expect from others when they are divided.”
However, for topics as complex as academic freedom, the direction cannot be “one person”. Other steps taken this summer include:
Revisiting professional development workshops. Most graduate students attend professional development workshops before the preliminary examination. When I attended the workshop thirty years ago, academic freedom was not a topic – my inquiry showed that academic freedom has not been added to many professional development workshops since then. This has to change. In addition to writing conferences that can publish articles and publish work dialogues, conferences on the history and norms of academic freedom and free inquiries are included. Assigning basic academic freedom documents, such as the 1940 statement of the American Association of University Professors on the Principles of Academic Freedom and Term and the 1967 joint statement on student rights and freedoms, and providing an overview of the principles of academic freedom, such as Henry Reichman Understand academic freedom (Johns Hopkins Press, 2025).
Arrange academic freedom seminars. Graduate students at all stages, as well as your faculty members, can also benefit from independent workshops. Includes desktop exercises, allowing students to appreciate the nuances of the principles of academic freedom. For example, desktop exercises allow students to test their responses to peers, which are the scale of manuscript submissions on non-academic aspects, department colleagues who put pressure on them to sign a joint statement with whom they disagree or bow to donors or political pressures inappropriately to administrators. Reports from the Independent College Committee Academic Leadership Committee on campus free expression workgroup include ready-made desktop exercises.
Support classroom training for teaching assistants. Professors with teaching assistants can provide insiders with the process of designing courses and planning course sessions, focusing on their approach to building trust and combining different perspectives and their teaching of potentially controversial topics. In weekly TA meetings, professors and TAs can report on the role of promoting strong discussions and things that are not done. Teaching Centers can provide graduate students with strategies to confidence in leading discussions, including strategies to maintain free expression and inclusive values when students speak in ways others find objectionable or violate inclusive norms. The University of Michigan’s Center for Learning and Teaching Research offers programs tailored to graduate and postdoctoral students, including teaching-oriented programs.
Find opportunities to provide guidance. Academic careers are not only related to teaching and scholarships, but also require serving on department and university committees and are offered and bound by Peer Review and Programme Meetings. In these activities, the issue of academic freedom is regular. Graduate teachers serve as tutors and should be wary of opportunities to discuss these issues. One idea: “Stand out of headlines” controversy about journal retraction, virus faculty social media posts or college responses to pressure from the Trump administration and planning a brown bag lunch discussion with graduate students.
Take the next step to rethinking graduate preparation. While longer program scopes can be taken this summer, graduate preparation for changing the higher education landscape can be reconsidered. Morgan State University is a public HBCU in Maryland that offers Morgan’s Structured Teaching Assistant Program (MSTAP), an award-winning course series designed to prepare graduate students. Mark Garrison, who chaired the development of MSTAP as dean of the Graduate Studies School, explained that “In the course we need for teaching assistants, we are strongly focused on establishing the basic rules of TAS”, centering on how to guide “student participation that is accepted and encouraged without infringing on TA’s personal views.”
“This makes free expression an integral part of teaching that must be cherished and nourished. We cannot assume that novice coaches will treat this view naturally and we will try our best to embrace reflective teaching models.”
Academic freedom is threatened. As Mary Clark, Denver Provost and Executive Vice President, observes: “Graduate students are developing their identities as scholars, understanding the significance of academic freedom in their research and classrooms, and how their academic identity intersects with their diplomatic remarks as citizens and members of the community, and our support for developing these understandings is crucial.” This summer is time to plan to do this.
