Academic Freedom and the Social Responsibilities of Academics in Tanzania

2. Academic Freedom, Social Responsibility and the State of Academia in Tanzania: Glimpses of Nationalist Academics

2 Academic Freedom, Social Responsibility and the State of Academia in Tanzania: Glimpses of Nationalist Academics G. Mmari Introduction The concept of academic freedom emerged from the more general struggle for freedom of thought and expression, basic rights of any free society. Without academic freedom, scholars cannot perform their vital role of seeking and spreading new knowledge. Scholars insist on having the freedom to represent the truth as they find it, even if this conflicts with popular belief. Creative research is impossible if its findings must be withheld or distorted to agree with established views. Thus, the chief importance of academic freedom is that society benefits from the knowledge discovered by scholars working in a free environment. However, academic freedom is interpreted in diverse ways depending on the beholder. Instructors struggle for the right to teach, the freedom to conduct research and the freedom to write and debate without fear of being dismissed. Students demand the right to challenge their instructors’ views without being penalised. Institutions have their own demands too, including the right to determine what is taught and what research is conducted on the campus. Teachers on the other hand want a larger share in selecting the contents of courses and greater freedom to engage in political and social activities. Since the birth of universities in the 1100s and 1200s, scholars have wanted the freedom to pursue their studies. Originally, this freedom was sought be- 7 Mmari: Academic Freedom, Social Responsibility and the State of Academia cause their work was subject to church control. Those who held views contrary to church doctrine were persecuted. Classical examples include Galileo, the astronomer and physicist, who was taken to task for teaching that the earth moves around the sun, contrary to orthodox beliefs at the time. By the 1800s, there was freedom to teach whatever and to undertake any research in Germany. In the United States of America, there were still threats from religious leaders who were intolerant of certain scientific views, as well as from those who held economic and political powers. This situation led to the dismissal of several university professors. In the 1900s, there were still cases of lack of academic freedom. Shortly after World War II, in the United States, the fear of the spread of communism was so great that a committee was set up called the US House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee that created fear on university campuses and led to the dismissal of many academics perceived to sympathise with socialist or communist ideas. In the 1960s, opposition to the Vietnam War led to protests against military research on university campuses. Some groups were also opposed to the teaching of “irrelevant” courses. Students challenged the right of academics to teach and do research, while both staff and students challenged universities’ right to decide what should be taught and what research should be conducted. In the twenty-first century, several threats to academic freedom continue to pose problems. They include threats posed by governments who see in academic freedom a source of challenge to their powers, threats posed by the general laws of society (underlining the fact that academic freedom is never unlimited), threats posed by specific crises such as wars, economic depression or political instability. The level of threat varies under different political regimes. Some are more supportive of the principles underlying academic freedom, while others are less so, as was the case in Nazi Germany. Threats also vary according to academic discipline. For example, some regimes will impose no limits on the natural sciences but will impose strict ones on the humanities and the social sciences, or vice versa. Finally, threats to academic freedom vary according to the esteem in which universities are held by the society. Academic freedom is more secure in societies where universities enjoy high prestige and is insecure in societies where universities have not yet acquired sufficient prestige. Academic Freedom in East Africa Higher education at degree level is about five decades old in East Africa. Degree programmes were first introduced in the region at Makerere Univer- 8 Academic Freedom and the Social Responsibilites of Academics in Tanzania sity in Uganda in 1949 through a special relationship with the University of London. The University College of East Africa, as Makerere was then known, addressed itself to the basic questions of academic freedom – what should be taught, how should it be taught, who should do the teaching...