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Conference Examines Academic Freedom
Faculty and administrators from across the country gathered at the University of San Diego in March for a conference sponsored by the AAUP. "Unity and Diversity: A Conference on Academic Freedom at Religiously Affiliated Colleges and Universities" explored such difficult issues as the teaching and practice of science at institutions whose religious tenets may disagree with scientific findings, limitations on academic freedom at colleges or universities that require professors to subscribe to a statement of faith, and Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the papal decree whose implementation requires that theologians teaching at Catholic institutions seek a mandate from the church.
Among other topics, conference sessions focused on the balance between institutional autonomy and church authority, the degree to which religiously affiliated institutions acknowledge different sexual orientations, and the extent to which science and fundamentalist Christianity can be reconciled when it comes to teaching evolution or conducting stem cell research.
Plenary speakers included Stanton Jones, provost at Wheaton College in Illinois, who spoke about the history of religion and academic freedom; Lee Hardy, professor of philosophy at Calvin College, who analyzed ways in which religious belief can enable, rather than hinder, teaching and research; and Monika Hellwig, executive director of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, who talked about academic freedom as it relates to institutional self-definition.
The conference also featured a showing of the film Trembling Before G-d, a documentary about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews, after which producer-director Sandi Simcha DuBowski answered questions from the audience.
For more about the conference, see State of the Profession.
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