Release date: September 11, 2007
For more information, contact:
Cary Nelson, AAUP President, (217) 356-0649
University of Illinois
Washington, D.C.— The University of California’s board of regents cancelled an invitation to former Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers to speak at a board dinner this week. Whether the invitation was well conceived is open to debate. The AAUP certainly does not endorse Summers’ ideas about innate differences between men and women. The AAUP nonetheless believes it is a bad idea for either for universities or for those responsible for higher education to cancel speeches under pressure, no matter how well intentioned.
Concerned that the current national election cycle will once again also be accompanied by public resistance to speakers invited by campus groups, AAUP President Cary Nelson has sent an open letter on the issue of outside speakers and academic freedom to 3,000 college and university presidents. Next week the letter will be e-mailed to 350,000 faculty and other members of the higher education community. We are urging its wide distribution to all Americans concerned about higher education.
For more information, see the full statement, Academic Freedom and Outside Speakers, and the open letter (.pdf).
The American Association of University Professors is a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that promotes academic freedom by supporting tenure, academic due process, shared governance and standards of quality in higher education. The AAUP has about 45,000 members at colleges and universities throughout the United States.