Academic Freedom, the First Amendment and Competing Stakeholders: The Dynamics of a Changing Balance

The Supreme Court first affirmed the importance of academic freedom in 1957. Yet in subsequent cases, First Amendment precedent has displaced the concept of academic freedom to resolve disputes among competing interests on public campuses, primarily in favor of institutions. This paper draws on the concepts of path dependence and policy space to analyze the jurisprudence of academic freedom, evaluate its current status, and develop suggestions to protect this cherished tenet of higher education.