Spring Update from the AFA
As summer approaches, we want to take a moment to update you on the latest developments in our movement for academic freedom.
New Guidance Statement on IRBs
In March, we released a new guidance statement urging universities and their Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to adopt a new set of principles known as the Mudd Code to guide and improve deliberation and review of research protocols for research on human subjects. The statement followed a steady drift of IRBs away from their original purpose of assessing risk to human subjects and toward a much broader effort to supervise the intellectual content and political implications of research.
“The IRB review process is too often unnecessarily obstructive,” we wrote in our statement, “with boards delving into areas beyond their remit and making demands that impede, distort, and even block research altogether. In doing so, IRBs disregard the research subjects’ autonomy and investigators’ needs.”
The drafting committee for this statement was led by AFA member Evan Morris of Yale University. Evan also wrote a piece on Substack explaining the urgency of the issue. As he wrote, “For a scientist to go public with criticisms of the IRB process is no small thing.” But it is worth it to speak up and promote ” a new and concrete set of principles for IRBs to adopt.”
Letter to St. John Fisher University
The AFA sent a letter to St. John Fisher University on March 16 objecting to retaliatory measures taken by the administration against Professor Alexey Ignatchenko. The retaliation came after he resisted the administration’s unreasonable demand to rush the submission of a final report in connection with a National Science Foundation grant for which he was the principal investigator. As a result, the Assistant Provost has refused to support any future grant applications for two years, and the Dean of Arts and Sciences has recommended that his application for promotion to full professor should not be considered at this time. The AFA urged the university to reverse course and uphold Prof. Ignatchenko’s academic freedom.
Five Year Anniversary
March 8th marked the five year anniversary of the founding of the AFA, and we have much to celebrate. Our movement has grown significantly in membership, public awareness, and case victories. We have secured victories in 32 cases for professors under fire. We have also played a major role in the adoption of institutional neutrality policies, the shifting of the debate around campus censorship, and other institutional reforms at universities.
Since our founding, however, the challenges to academic freedom have changed but not abated. And the need for a principled, independent organization willing to defend scholars has only grown, as evidenced by the continued demand for our assistance from other professors.
Please consider donating to our cause by making a contribution here. As we have stated before: Legal defense is expensive, but failing to defend academic freedom when it is under attack is even costlier.
Thought Leadership
Two of our members are out this month with new writings on academic freedom topics. John Tomasi recently published a book titled Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, And How To Get It, which he edited alongside Bernard Schweizer. Tomasi and our friends at Heterodox Academy have been leaders on this issue of late. In an excerpt of his book for HxA, Tomasi weighs different views and highlights an approach that would keep a robust range of defensible ideas “open in a lively way.”
Donald Downs also published a new paper, “Free Speech, the University, and the Wrong Turn in the Road” (Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development), arguing that American universities took a fateful illiberal turn beginning in the late 1960s. He outlines how administrations replaced their commitment to open inquiry and truth-seeking with censorship driven by identity politics, speech codes, and administrative control. Downs calls for a return to the classical liberal path, offering some excellent ideas of how to get there.
Expanding Membership
The AFA has added a handful of new members this year, bringing our total membership to 985. We would like to hit 1000 members soon, which will be a major milestone reflecting our growth and the strength of the AFA’s mission. Please consider nominating friends or colleagues by sending them to AFA Director of Operations Howard Muncy at hmuncy@academicfreedom.org.