The legal system offers strong protection for academic freedom. However, because the Supreme Court has never directly confronted the meaning and extent of academic freedom protections, lower courts have often interpreted the Constitution narrowly.
Most legal decisions are treated as a conflict between institutional academic freedom and individual academic freedom. Institutional academic freedom is the belief that colleges and universities should be free from judicial scrutiny for their decisions. Individual academic freedom is the belief that courts must intervene to protect the academic freedom of individual faculty and students from institutional encroachments.
During the early McCarthy Era cases when the Supreme Court first recognized the right of academic freedom as a part of the First Amendment, politicians sought to impose restrictions on colleges and professors alike. The two forms of academic freedom were synonymous.
Today, however, most academic freedom disputes in the courts involve individuals accusing colleges and universities of infringing upon academic freedom. However, lower courts have misinterpreted the meaning of academic freedom to emphasize institutional academic freedom at the expense of individuals. Although institutional autonomy for colleges and universities is important, it cannot supercede the individual rights of professors and students to speak, write, teach, and learn freely.
One of the best recent summaries of the law of academic freedom is available from the American Association of University Professors:
Hot Topics in Higher Education Law (AAUP, March 2003)
Academic Freedom Of Individual Professors And Higher Education Institutions: The Current Legal Landscape (AAUP Report, May 2002)
Some U.S. Supreme Court Cases Related to Academic Freedom:
ADLER v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 342 U.S. 485 (1952) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/342/485.html
WIEMAN v. UPDEGRAFF, 344 U.S. 183 (1952): http://laws.findlaw.com/us/344/183.html
BARENBLATT v. UNITED STATES, 360 U.S. 109 (1959): http://laws.findlaw.com/us/360/109.html
KEYISHIAN v. BOARD OF REGENTS, 385 U.S. 589 (1967) : http://laws.findlaw.com/us/385/589.html
CONNICK v. MYERS, 461 U.S. 138 (1983) : http://laws.findlaw.com/us/461/138.html
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA v. EEOC, 493 U.S. 182 (1990) : http://laws.findlaw.com/us/493/182.html
Federal Circuit Court Cases
UROFSKY v GILMORE, : http://laws.findlaw.com/4th/981481p.html
(Urofsky Decision: Academic Freedom Bites the Dust, by Marjorie Heins (2001): http://www.ncac.org/cen_news/cn81academicfreedom.html)
Brown v. Armenti : http://laws.findlaw.com/3rd/001587.html
COHEN v BROWN UNIV. : http://laws.findlaw.com/1st/952205.html
LINNEMEIR, DAN v. BIRCK, MICHAEL J. : http://laws.findlaw.com/7th/013002.html
DAMBROT v CENTRAL MICH. UNIV. : http://laws.findlaw.com/6th/950168p.html
VEGA v STATE UNIVERSITY OF, : http://laws.findlaw.com/2nd/009214.html
EDWARDS v CA UNIV PA, : http://laws.findlaw.com/3rd/981936p.html
JEFFRIES v HARLESTON : http://laws.findlaw.com/2nd/937876.html
GARY L. WEBB, ET AL. v BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF BALL STATE UNIV., ET AL., : http://laws.findlaw.com/7th/981317.html
COHEN v SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY No. 9555936 : http://laws.findlaw.com/9th/9555936.html
UNIV GRT FALLS v NLRB, : http://laws.findlaw.com/DC/001415a.html
MARCUS B. FELDMAN v CHUNG-WU HO AND BD. OF TRUSTEES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIV.: http://laws.findlaw.com/7th/974243.html
KRACUNAS v IONA COLLEGE : http://laws.findlaw.com/2nd/967128.html
FISHER v VASSAR COLLEGE : http://laws.findlaw.com/2nd/947737.html
Legal Watch: Articles from the AAUP’s magazine Academe about legal issues:
Links to additional websites on college law:
National Association for Public Interest Law (www.napil.org)
Atlantic Legal Foundation (www.atlanticlegal.org)
Constitutional law guide to sites on the web: http://academicinfo.net/lawconlaw.html