The Education and Training Act enshrines academic freedom in law. It distinguishes aspects of academic freedom over which the university itself has jurisdiction, from aspects that protect its students and academic staff from institutional interference.
An example of the former is “the freedom of the institution and its staff to regulate the subject matter of courses taught at the institution.” This makes clear that academic staff cannot unilaterally decide to teach whatever courses they like. They must negotiate the content and format of courses with the university as an institution.
Another aspect of academic freedom, over which universities have no institutional authority, is “the freedom of academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas, and to state controversial or unpopular opinions.” Unlike in the first example, ‘the institution’ is not mentioned. This clause prohibits universities from censoring academic staff or students unless their speech breaks the law.
New draft principles to guide ‘public discourse conversations’ from Victoria University of Wellington appear to be an attempt to customise the academic freedom provisions of the Act. VUW seeks to impose institutional restrictions on what its academics and students can say in public forums.
Some principles pertain to the conduct of discourse, rather than to its content. One asserts that “views should be presented in the spirt [sic] of … the pursuit of knowledge.” This accords with the intent of the Act. The purpose of universities is indeed the pursuit of knowledge. Even so, deciding whether or not a statement or discussion is in the pursuit of knowledge would be fraught. Sometimes knowledge is revealed in the unlikeliest of ways.
Another principle is that “public discourse conversations should be mana-preserving and respectful for all involved parties.” To be sure, we should always try to be polite in debates. But principles like this could be used to shut down legitimate criticism of ideas.
Things can get heated in disagreements, especially when the ideas at stake are the mainstay of an academic’s career. And if a scholar’s ideas are shown to be wrong, isn’t it inevitable that he or she will lose a certain amount of mana? A perceived lack of respect ought not be grounds for censorship. Intellectual discourse is not for the fainthearted.
Some of the other principles would be a direct assault on the free expression of ideas on campus. Perhaps the most chilling is the assertion that public discourse conversations should “ensure … that the content of the conversations aligns with the University’s values.” A key word here is “content.” This principle is not concerned merely with how scholars express their ideas, but with the substance of those ideas.
VUW says its values are to be demonstrated in its commitment to ‘equity’, ‘diversity’, and ‘inclusivity’, among other things. If this principle is adopted, there is a serious risk of ideas being censored. For example, under equity-based employment policies, underrepresented groups may be given preference for positions. Might criticising such a policy be taken to violate the university’s value-based commitment to equity?
Who would decide whether an idea should or should not be expressed under such a principle? The Vice Chancellor? The Academic Board? Noisy pressure groups? It really doesn’t matter. Under the Act, the principle is simply illegitimate. Individual academics and students, irrespective of the university’s values, can express whatever ideas they wish, within the law.
In recent years, universities have not covered themselves in glory in defence of academic freedom. In a well-publicised example in 2021, seven Professors at the University of Auckland published a letter in The Listener criticising the Ardern government’s decision to include mātauranga Māori in the school science curriculum.
In the ensuing furore, their Vice Chancellor Dawn Freshwater publicly threw the seven under the proverbial bus, saying they had "caused considerable hurt and dismay among our staff, students and alumni." Causing ostensible hurt and dismay may well be grounds for censoring the expression of views under VUW’s draft principles.
Perhaps VUW’s new Vice Chancellor Nic Smith is cut from a different cloth than Freshwater. Time will tell. But the ‘Listener seven’ incident demonstrates that university hierarchies should never be allowed to control the discourse of their academic staff and students. Inevitably, such control would result in elements of the university community putting pressure on management to shut down ideas they don’t like. That would put at risk, not only the intellectual standing of the universities, but also of their capacity for knowledge production.
The Act makes it clear that neither Vice Chancellors, nor senior university management, nor pressure groups within universities, have license to control what kinds of ‘public discourse conversations’ take place on our campuses. If that isn’t sufficiently clear to them in the existing legislation, new legislation may be required to remind our Vice Chancellors of their obligations.
James Kierstead is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr Michael Johnston has held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington for the past ten years. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Melbourne.
This article was first published HERE
New draft principles to guide ‘public discourse conversations’ from Victoria University of Wellington appear to be an attempt to customise the academic freedom provisions of the Act. VUW seeks to impose institutional restrictions on what its academics and students can say in public forums.
Some principles pertain to the conduct of discourse, rather than to its content. One asserts that “views should be presented in the spirt [sic] of … the pursuit of knowledge.” This accords with the intent of the Act. The purpose of universities is indeed the pursuit of knowledge. Even so, deciding whether or not a statement or discussion is in the pursuit of knowledge would be fraught. Sometimes knowledge is revealed in the unlikeliest of ways.
Another principle is that “public discourse conversations should be mana-preserving and respectful for all involved parties.” To be sure, we should always try to be polite in debates. But principles like this could be used to shut down legitimate criticism of ideas.
Things can get heated in disagreements, especially when the ideas at stake are the mainstay of an academic’s career. And if a scholar’s ideas are shown to be wrong, isn’t it inevitable that he or she will lose a certain amount of mana? A perceived lack of respect ought not be grounds for censorship. Intellectual discourse is not for the fainthearted.
Some of the other principles would be a direct assault on the free expression of ideas on campus. Perhaps the most chilling is the assertion that public discourse conversations should “ensure … that the content of the conversations aligns with the University’s values.” A key word here is “content.” This principle is not concerned merely with how scholars express their ideas, but with the substance of those ideas.
VUW says its values are to be demonstrated in its commitment to ‘equity’, ‘diversity’, and ‘inclusivity’, among other things. If this principle is adopted, there is a serious risk of ideas being censored. For example, under equity-based employment policies, underrepresented groups may be given preference for positions. Might criticising such a policy be taken to violate the university’s value-based commitment to equity?
Who would decide whether an idea should or should not be expressed under such a principle? The Vice Chancellor? The Academic Board? Noisy pressure groups? It really doesn’t matter. Under the Act, the principle is simply illegitimate. Individual academics and students, irrespective of the university’s values, can express whatever ideas they wish, within the law.
In recent years, universities have not covered themselves in glory in defence of academic freedom. In a well-publicised example in 2021, seven Professors at the University of Auckland published a letter in The Listener criticising the Ardern government’s decision to include mātauranga Māori in the school science curriculum.
In the ensuing furore, their Vice Chancellor Dawn Freshwater publicly threw the seven under the proverbial bus, saying they had "caused considerable hurt and dismay among our staff, students and alumni." Causing ostensible hurt and dismay may well be grounds for censoring the expression of views under VUW’s draft principles.
Perhaps VUW’s new Vice Chancellor Nic Smith is cut from a different cloth than Freshwater. Time will tell. But the ‘Listener seven’ incident demonstrates that university hierarchies should never be allowed to control the discourse of their academic staff and students. Inevitably, such control would result in elements of the university community putting pressure on management to shut down ideas they don’t like. That would put at risk, not only the intellectual standing of the universities, but also of their capacity for knowledge production.
The Act makes it clear that neither Vice Chancellors, nor senior university management, nor pressure groups within universities, have license to control what kinds of ‘public discourse conversations’ take place on our campuses. If that isn’t sufficiently clear to them in the existing legislation, new legislation may be required to remind our Vice Chancellors of their obligations.
James Kierstead is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr Michael Johnston has held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington for the past ten years. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Melbourne.
This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
Para 2.
So, does Auckland University fully endorse the AU law lecturer (Harvard LLM) who " teaches ( or brainwashes" on ) Critical Race Theory and has written in support of anti " white supremacy", final Maori political control, cancellation of police and prisons?
If so, the institution is totally politicized .
Any alumnus who donates to this sort of damage is crazy.
Remove the VC and entire Council.
I looked up the words 'critical thinking' in the dictionary and it states as one of its components considering other points of view.
What we are witnessing is simply dishonesty and lack of intellectual integrity. Has the word critical been captured in "Critical Studies' as per the Frankfurt School of Marxism which is obsessed with finding victims and oppressors everywhere and in everything?
Erica, I can help you here. The term 'critical' in today's social pseudosciences means that all evils of the world affecting non-Whites, women and queers are attributable to White heterosexual males, while White sexually normal females are their accomplices.
So, if this "academic freedom is enshrined in law" how come all research projects at Otago University have to pass approval by Ngai Tahu first?
It's time this nonsense was curtailed and there was a clear legislative directive as to what is expected of our universities. Despite their massive incomes, the recent VC's to date haven't been up to it and I don't expect the likes of Grant Robertson to be any different. Can the coalition get on and just do it.
Post a Comment