

Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom - pmiller2
http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/24/open-records-attack-on-academic-freedom/

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jerf
Bollocks. You joined the political fray, now you reap the results. Academic
freedom is not condition-free; the tradition that demands "academic freedom"
also says academics should stay out of what they ought to consider "mere
politics". I read the original op-ed, and while this is selective quoting it
is selective to prove my point: "Mr. Walker’s assault on collective bargaining
rights... Mr. Walker’s conduct has provoked a level of divisiveness and bitter
partisan hostility the likes of which have not been seen in this state since
at least the Vietnam War... Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy. Their political
convictions and the two moments in history are quite different. But [McCarthy
comparisons made anyhow]..."

This is a very partisan piece. I could probably rewrite it without much work
to be a much more neutral-POV historical piece with the same basic content,
but as it stands now it is not neutral-POV. (In fact I agree with the
underlying premise that the Republican party's priorities have shifted over
time, but consider it uninteresting. All political parties shift over time;
the further back in time you go, the less related to a modern party it is.
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, but... so what? It doesn't count as credit
to the modern party, because they're only related via historical continuity,
not by methods, persons, or platform. Democrats have shifted too, or should we
pretend they are violating their core principles by not vigorously fighting
for southern segregation?)

Academic freedom is the freedom to be free of mere politics in the pursuit of
your academic studies. It is not a blank check to participate in political
discourse from a privileged position above all others, with a unique defense
not available to the rest of us. You have chosen to step out of your academic
shield and function as a citizen.

That said, this is certainly a major overreaction from the Republican party. I
don't see what they think they are going to get out of this. But this whole
"I'm a noble academic under attack" is just BS, you simply _do not_ get to run
into a room, start lobbing "McCarthyite!", "Radical!", and a laundry list of
other thinly-veiled plausibly-deniable political attacks worthy of any modern
political speech writer around in a still-current political debate, and expect
there to be no reaction from the political world. You jumped in with both
feet. Stop whining.

(And yes, I know the entire linked piece is itself just the next level of
political game, and that, itself, is shameful. This is not how academics
should behave.)

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MaysonL
Actually, it wasn't the op-ed that occasioned the response, the Republicans
launched their request prior to the publication of the op-ed.

It was in respones to this blog post:
<http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/> about the The
American Legislative Exchange Council.

~~~
jerf
OK, that's even more nakedly partisan. Still an overreaction from the
Republicans, but less of one.

