JUDITH BUTLER, JOEL BEININ, and KATHLEEN FRYDL - ACADEMIC FREEDOM AFTER 9/11

THURSDAY, MARCH 9
BESHARA DOUMANI, JUDITH BUTLER, JOEL BEININ, and KATHLEEN FRYDL look at ACADEMIC FREEDOM AFTER 9/11. Cal professor of Middle Eastern history and social and cultural history Beshara Doumani analyzes the historical significance of the post-9/11 threats to academic freedom; Judith Butler, professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at Cal, considers what visions of academic freedom one can defend and the best strategies for doing so; Kathleen Frydl, professor of history at Cal, studies the loyalty oath and free speech controversies at Cal; and Stanford professor of history Joel Beinin considers the policing of thought in the academy when it comes to the Middle East. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AFTER SEPTEMBER 11 brings together some of the nation’s leading scholars to analyze these new challenges, including the rise of conflicting interpretations of what constitutes academic freedom. Government agencies and private advocacy groups have been subjecting institutions of higher learning to an increasing level of surveillance, intervention, and control. Shared governance and knowledge in service of the public good are giving way to market forces and endless intervention by politicians, corporations and powerful donors, all of which shape the intellectual discourse within our institutions of higher education, and all of which deepen our understanding of what is at stake. Come for an evening on the philosophical foundations, institutional practices, and political dimensions of academic freedom. 7:30 PM at Cody's Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley