Joe Martins: Faculty members look to universities to protect academic freedom

ADF Attorney Joe Martins writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Today, Peter Schmidt has an excellent article at the Chronicle of Higher Education on the efforts of various professors to shore up academic freedom at their respective universities. This effort is entirely understandable, but I fear will ultimately prove ineffective. … Given the practical shortcomings of institutional protections, it appears this matter needs to be settled by the Supreme Court. For almost half a century before Garcetti, the Court recognized the ‘transcendent value’ of academic freedom and the special place it holds in the First Amendment. The Court needs to clarify that Garcetti did not change this precedent and that the viewpoint of professors’ scholarship and teaching is still protected by the Constitution. The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is currently appealing this precise issue to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Dr. Adams because the district court wrongly used Garcetti to quash his First Amendment rights. For the sake of academic freedom, let’s hope the Fourth Circuit—and ultimately the Supreme Court—get it right.”