Digital Commons Network^™

Academic Freedom And The Courts, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

Recent events in the United Kingdom have focused attention on the protection at law of institutional and individual academic freedom. While such freedoms sit in tension, they share a basis in the liberal ideal of the pursuit of truth through teaching, discussion and research. It is a truism that this ideal is currently under threat, and with it academic freedom itself. The source of the threat is complex and varied, but includes changes in the economy, scientific research, and British higher education policy. One result of these changes has been what W R Cornish described in 1991 as “a rising …