Dimensions of Academic Freedom in Research

We most often think of academic freedom in terms of the subject and content of lectures and class materials. When controversies arise concerning research, the issues usually concern political correctness or allegations of bias arising either from the sponsorship of the work or from an interest by the researcher in the outcome. These controversies, however, often result in pressures that threaten the freedom of the academic researcher to pursue that research he or she thinks is most important or interesting.

Threats to academic freedom in research can be grouped into three categories: 1) pressure to not work on controversial questions, 2) pressure to contribute to the college's income by working in areas that attract large grants and contracts, and 3) restrictions on the publication of results of research due to national security classification or because of the proprietary interests of commercially sponsored research.

For those who do bench research, the category about controversial research may not seem to be as personally relevant as the others. After all, when a college (in this article, any institution of higher learning from a junior college to a comprehensive university) hires someone to do research, the college pretty well knows the areas in which the work will be done and has approved it by hiring that person rather than another applicant. The researcher (any faculty member who is involved at least part time in research) tries to gather some students, postdocs, and technicians to form a research team and undertakes research in that area. Examples that may counter that impression include the canceled conference on potential genetic basis of propensity to violence (1), studies on the potential relationship between intelligence and race (2), and possible physiological and genetic components in homosexuality (3).