Academic Freedom and the Inclusive University

Alexander D. Gregor is director of the Centre for Higher Education
Research and Development at the University of Manitoba and co-editor of
Postsecondary Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

The issue of academic freedom has fostered a plethora of publications
over the last several years. Not surprisingly, much of this literature
is heatedly partisan, ranging from conservative onslaughts against the
incursions of “political correctness” to liberal attacks on the
restrictions on “inclusivity” imposed by the older conservative
ways. In the midst of this polarized rhetoric, Academic Freedom and the
Inclusive University provides a nicely balanced overview of the issues.
Some of the 18 contributors have formally studied the topic (e.g.,
Michiel Horn, Jennie Hornosty, Jennifer Kate Bankier), while others have
lived through it as academics, administrators, or public intellectuals
(e.g., Lorna Marsden, Diane Dyson, Bernard Shapiro). Although the cast
is solidly academic, most of the articles are in the form of informed
reflection rather than research per se; perhaps for this reason, the
book is easy and pleasurable to read.

The articles fall into four broad groupings: the first deals with the
sometimes elusive ideas and definitions involved; the second attempts to
place the discussion within the context of the ideas and values of the
external society; the third considers the perceived dangers to academic
freedom; and the fourth looks at the dilemmas facing the “inclusive
university.” Running through all of the contributions is the
unresolved nature of the contemporary university’s mandate and
character: the primacy of reason and the place of emotion and belief;
the question of whether some questions and avenues of inquiry are best
kept “out of bounds”; the legitimacy of “identity” politics and
the attendant dangers of balkanization of the university.

In attempting to be balanced and comprehensive, the collection
inadvertently hints that resolution and consensus may be impossible, and
that we may be moving instead toward strategies for maintaining a
workable balance among very different perspectives and values, all
defining “university” in very different ways. That said, the book
provides an excellent overview of the topic for both those inside and
outside the academy.