The Onslaught on Academic Freedom

Abstract

While the United States Supreme Court has long understood that the protection of teachers serves important interests, the Court has not been clear about the degree to which the Constitution protects academic freedom. Even assuming the Constitution affords such protection, clarification is needed with respect to who is entitled to such protection and under what circumstances those protections will be triggered. The Garcetti Court mentioned that First Amendment jurisprudence might have important implications for academic freedom but did not address those possible implications. By doing so, the Court almost invited the circuits to adopt differing approaches to these issues, which they have done, sometimes but not always resulting in the diminution of academic freedom.

Keywords: academic freedom, constitution, Garcetti, classroom, private citizen

JEL Classification: K10