ABSTRACT

After 9/11, liberal professors and students faced an onslaught of attacks on their patriotism and academic freedom. In a lively narrative this book tells the story of attacks on academic freedom in the past five years. It highlights nationally prominent and lesser known cases, drawing upon media reports, university documents, and reports and studies seldom seen by the public. It shows how conservative attacks on higher education distort the facts in order to pursue an assault on liberal ideas. A wave of Web sites and think-tanks urge students to spy on their professors for any sign of deviation from the new PC: Patriotic Correctness. Free speech on campus is facing its greatest threat in a half century, and Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies documents the danger to rights and looks to solutions for ensuring and promoting the free exchange of ideas requisite in any thriving democracy.