ACLU Releases Pioneering Report on Academic Freedom for Students
The ACLU issued a statement on Academic Freedom and Civil Liberties of Students on this day attacking the paternalism of colleges and universities regarding the political activities of students.
The statement included a call for ending discipline of students for off-campus political activity.
The rights of students became a central controversy in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement (see October 1, 1964), after the university attempted to ban on-campus activity in support of off-campus issues such as civil rights.
The AAUP Principles of Academic Freedom for college and university faculty was accepted by the American Association of Universities (AAU) on November 7, 1940, and has been the governing document on the subject since that day.
See the current ACLU work on students rights and privacy here.
Read the current AAUP statement of the academic freedom of students and professors: http://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/publications/redbook
Read and learn: Harvey Silverglate, FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus (2012)
Watch a documentary on the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28aPyBrP0Yc