Cornell decision to ax courses steps on academic freedom (FOK, food related)

[MelissaB]

Cornell University professors T. Colin Campbell and Randy O. Wayne write about encroachment on academic freedom at the Ivy League school. The article discusses Dr. Campbell's course cancellation that is covered in FOK (Forks Over Knives).

Cornell decision to ax courses steps on academic freedom

We are Cornell professors devoted to our university and to the pursuit of knowledge. Pushing the boundaries of knowledge, although often exhilarating, can be challenging.

We now find ourselves at odds between our scholarly responsibilities and our institution's expectations. One of us has formulated a fascinating and intellectually elegant way of understanding nutrition. The other has become aware of an oversight in Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Both of our interpretations profoundly challenge current paradigms, with far-reaching implications. Critique and challenge is something we welcome.

We recently met each other because both of our courses were removed from the Cornell course catalog without consulting us — effectively removing our perspectives from the curriculum and from further consideration by Cornell students. We now question the way that Cornell handles the teaching of scientific matters that do not conform to the status quo.

These assaults on academic freedom have not gone unnoticed outside of Cornell, and have been reported on in the June newsletter of the American Institute for Science and Technology Education and in the documentary film "Forks over Knives."

More: http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20110805/VIEWPOINTS02/108050303/Cornell-decision-ax-courses-steps-academic-freedom?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

[MelissaB]

1. Another snip:

In one case, the decision to eliminate the course was crafted by an administrator having a personal association with an industry and companion government agency known to be unhappy with one of our professional views, as offered in the course.

In the second case, the possibility exists that the course was removed under the auspices of a dean who happens to be a geneticist because the students were taught to develop an active skepticism about the lucrative trends in genetics, such as modifying food crops using antibiotic-resistance genes and performing genetic tests for mental illness and athletic performance. Cornell University should be a "marketplace of ideas" as Justice William Brennan described the role of the American university, and not the ideas of the marketplace as it currently seems to be.