academic freedom

noun

: freedom to teach or to learn without interference (as by government officials)

Examples of academic freedom in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There's this tension between safety and academic freedom that really lies at the heart of what higher education is, and different schools handle it differently. —Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2024

But academic freedom supporters counter that administrators will go out of their way to avoid complaints altogether, especially now that the department has accepted the I.H.R.A. definition. —Vimal Patel, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024

The conservative nonprofit says its mission is devoted to advancing free expression and academic freedom on campuses. —Katherine Itoh, NBC News, 29 Mar. 2024

Tenure offers protection for academic freedom, the principle that professors creating knowledge and expressing ideas should be free to do so without the threat of intimidation or retaliation. —Kelly Meyerhofer, Journal Sentinel, 28 Mar. 2024

Don’t think armband insignias, tanks in the streets, and martial law; think lawfare, sophisticated cronyism, surveillance, and counter-majoritarian restrictions on reproductive rights and voting access and academic freedom. —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2024

Many universities have since taken an aggressive stance against some forms of speech and protest, moves often decried by academic freedom groups. —Vimal Patel, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024

And universities enjoyed what has come to be known as academic freedom, the ability for those in higher education to operate free from external pressure. —Pamela Paul, The Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2024

Borlase alleged that San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney and CSU Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Leora Freedman believed the professor’s actions were protected under academic freedom and asked Borlase to halt the investigation. —Colleen Shalby, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1863, in the meaning defined above