ABSTRACT
This chapter considers more palatable alternatives such as court action based on constitutional principles limiting the power of the federal government and political action aimed at Congress and the executive agencies. In 1958 the federal government spent $300 million to support education at all levels. In the evolution of the concept of academic freedom, focus was initially on the rights of the individual involved–usually the individual teacher or researcher, occasionally the administrator, and less frequently the student. The most blatant federal interference with direct impact on academic freedom has involved American professional health-study schools: medical, dental, veterinary, etc. The concept of academic freedom as a protection of the individual was extended to shield him in his extrainstitutional political and personal life. The chapter concludes that the United States Constitution seems to provide almost no basis for relief if Congress decides deliberately to take over much of the administration of state and private institutions of higher education through the conditions-on-grant process.
