ACADEMIC FREEDOM DENIED TO COLLEGES

That a university or college may not restrain the academic freedom of its teachers, either in outside investigation or in the classroom, was the substance of a report rejected on Saturday by the Association of American Universities. The report, submitted by the American Council on Education, at the closing session of the twenty-seventh annual conference of the Association, was referred back to the individual colleges for action after a spirited debate.

Brewer Wants Detached Viewpoint

In commenting yesterday on the question of academic freedom in reference to this report, Professor J. M. Brewer '16, Associate Professor of Education, gave his opinion on freedom in classroom discussion.

"The most common mistakes of a professor are those of giving his own views on controversial questions instead of presenting the problem as a detached problem, and in allowing the discussion to wander from the approach of the topic to the heart of his course, out into generalities. Of course, the professor will not be able, and should not try, to conceal his own views, but he should expect his colleagues to confer with him when it appears that harm may come from classroom discussion.

The second question to be brought up in the final meeting of the Association was of international interest in education--that of the relations of American universities with those in the Orient and especially in Japan and China. The decision to inquire into the status of universities in the Orient was considered necessary because of the increasingly large number of students from these schools to enter the universities and colleges of this country. The report of the investigation will be published jointly by the Association of American Universities and the American Council on Education.

May Teachers Discuss Controversy?

Together with the two provisions for academic freedom in classroom and investigation, there were two more main points in the report which the Association rejected. The first of these was, briefly, that no teacher may claim as his right the privilege of discussing in his classroom controversial questions outside of his own field of study.

Secondly, a university or college should recognize that a teacher in speaking on or writing of outside subjects is entitled to the same freedom which is the right of all other citizens.