Campus and Community Affairs Debated at KSU Student Assembly

Tuesday, hosted a student assembly entitled “AF101: Introduction to Academic Freedom.” The event featured several KSU students, who debated the nature of “academic freedom” at the university.

Professor Tom Doleys of KSU’s Department of Political Science and International Affairs served as the event’s moderator and introductory speaker. Doleys began the panel discussion by reading excerpts from the American Association of University Professors’ 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.

“The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition,” Doleys stated. “Academic freedom in research is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning.”

“College and university professors are citizens,” Doleys said. “When they speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations.”

Kelly Azabache, a Biology major, said that students often engage in “motivated reasoning” when entering specific courses.

“It’s really difficult for you to separate your lecture from your personal bias because there aren’t many boundaries set for these specific disciplines,” Azabache said. Azabache recalled her freshman economics professor, whom she said demonstrated a strong reluctance to teach materials related to Marxism in class.

“I felt that was somewhat wrong to do that,” Azabache said. “For me, I think it’s extremely important that teachers are obligated to teach things respectfully and fairly in their disciplines.”

American Studies major Richie Essenburg said that it is vital that students understand certain frameworks in academia.

“One of the things that is a part of the humanities,” Essenburg said, “is now a buzzword, contrarian questioning, the quest of the question.”

“Another standard, nationally (and) internationally used, practiced and accepted framework is that of Marx,” Essenburg stated. “We as students and teachers should have that freedom to join the conversation. There are some unpopular ideas, but I think that may be all the more reason for us to take a closer look at them.”

KSU alumnus Michael Williams recalled taking part in a production of “The Laramie Project,” a controversial play about the murder of Matthew Shepherd, during his time spent at the university.

“We were catching flak from both sides of the political spectrum,” Williams said. “All of the performers in the play had to have a meeting with the department of public relations here at Kennesaw.”

“For us, it raised a lot of questions, not only where we as individuals stood, but about the freedom to explore ideas and experiment on college campuses,” said Williams. “Too often, when we speak about academic freedom, we don’t take into account just where the funding comes from for all of the experimenting and exploration of ideas that goes on.”

Williams said that public universities have a wide array of stakeholders and that academic freedom increases as academic control decreases.

“The more academic freedom we have, the less control we have over our pursuit of ideas and education,” Williams said. “I think that in a situation in which so much funding is provided by members of the community, the community has a right to understand what type of education is being offered.”

“Those classes which involve an international component of study tend to open the door for differences of opinion,” said International Business major Amanda Holmes. “Indoctrination and one sided debates seem to be very unwelcome by a majority of students.”

Management major Terrence Young said he's had colleagues who felt their professors would not explore certain topics due to fear of being "held accountable."

“It’s a little bit puzzling as to why we can’t all voice our opinions with respect to other religions and other beliefs," said Young. "There should be a place, especially in higher education, where we should all be able to learn what we want to learn and teach what we want to teach, but with respect to (differing viewpoints).”

Holmes said the public should have a "limited say" when it comes to matters at the university. “Knowledge is never a bad thing. It’s not converting you to some kind of theory (the community is) totally against, and you don’t have to change who you are to be open to other people’s ideas.”

“To take a really capitalist approach, there’s a marketplace, and I think that it’s part of the responsibility of representatives that we elect to ensure that if you graduate from a university in the state of Georgia, you can be a part of the bigger community,” Essenburg said. “I think a lot of the problem has been misrepresentation, really.”

“In business, you’re always taught you don’t compete locally here, you compete globally,” Young commented. “To have input of just some locals, it’s not going to be effective if we want to compete as global competitors. People from outside need to come in with their views as well, but how can we be effective if we’re not aware of what else is going on outside?”

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