Academic freedom and tenure: introduction

Abstract

This Theme Section consists of 11 essays aiming to explore diverse issues related to academic freedom and tenure, presenting the views and thoughts of 15 scholars from different disciplines. Historical, legal, theoretical, philosophical, political and educational aspects of academic freedom and tenure are addressed; the decline in productivity of tenured faculty is questioned; and the effect of marketization of education on tenure policies and their implications are discussed. Overall, the essays recognize that academic freedom has been increasingly challenged in recent years and affected by factors such as increased commercialization, the constraints imposed by the 'western way of thinking' and neo-liberal ways of valuing, changes from a collegial to a managerial mode of organization in universities, political pressures to suppress inconvenient scientific findings, the economic crisis itself, even the current metrics of valuating research and the recent changes set by new media in disseminating ideas. We argue that today, academics can defend and promote academic freedom themselves, as has been done using various means with other aspects of academic life.