Academic freedom on trial
Can a faith-based university provide true academic freedom? No way, insists the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). The organization stands staunchly for the idea that “academic freedom is the lifeblood of the university. It is the right to teach, learn, study and publish free of orthodoxy or threat of reprisal and discrimination." Which means, apparently, that any university that requires its faculty to be in accord with a specified faith statement cannot provide an atmosphere of academic freedom.
“An institution that includes or excludes teachers on basis of a faith test is antithetical to what a university is supposed to be," says CAUT executive director James Turk.
Thus, for the past two years the CAUT has aggressively turned its sights on Christian universities, examining their policies and practices for alleged violations of academic freedom. Trinity Western University, Canadian Mennonite University, Crandall University and, most recently, Redeemer University College have been targeted for investigation.
Not surprisingly, these schools are found wanting.
Why? In short (the supporting documents are long), the CAUT has a few basic faith tenets of its own. “It is absolutely fundamental that academic freedom always and exclusively reside in the individual faculty member." And while institutions are free to serve whatever master they choose, “responsible exercise of academic freedom can only be defined in relation to factors integral to the pursuit of truth," not as “a duty to promote a religious goal or the aims of some specific religion, community or interest group."
And therein lies the problem. What we are seeing is a clash between two distinct models of public diversity - individualism and pluralism. In the individualist model, secular authorities enforce rights that make people respect each other properly. We see this in legislation to prevent discrimination against individuals based on gender, nationality, sexual orientation and so forth.
The pluralist model seeks to balance the protection of individual equality rights with the autonomy of many independent social institutions, including families, schools, religious organizations, universities and so on.
In other words, communities and traditions are part of the diversity legitimately contending to speak and to serve in the public sphere. And academic freedom within the limits of a belief system is not a disservice to society. It can be a great asset.
Foregone conclusion
This is why Redeemer president Hubert Krygsman won't bother participating when the CAUT investigates his school. “The report's findings are a foregone conclusion," he says. Instead, he's invited the CAUT to “an open and honest philosophical discussion about differing paradigms of academic freedom and the relation of faith to learning."
Meanwhile, a growing group of faculty members at both private and public colleges and universities in Canada has launched an online petition rejecting CAUT's “invasive and unwarranted investigations" of “supposed infringements of academic freedom" at faith-based schools. They “repudiate the bullying," and “object in principle to CAUT's arbitrary restriction of academic freedom to individuals."
The statement notes that “the very concept of academic freedom arose historically in religiously founded institutions," and affirms that “religious institutions can play a special role in preserving academic freedom." It also observes that public institutions are home to “institutes or research centres with their own acknowledged pre-commitments. Both remain free associations of scholars."
So why is CAUT on its crusade? The bottom line probably relates to money. As the current crop of faith-based universities develops academically, they compete for students and funding. And lately they've been showing up very well in university comparisons, punching well above their weight. But ideology matters too, and this is where the real battle will be waged.
As Krygsman told the National Post, “it's a terrific irony that in the name of freedom, CAUT would be trying to defend a monopoly on their definition of academic freedom and their notions of what qualifies as a university."
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