1812.Any American

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Any American is free to believe anything she or he wants to believe, consistently with not acting in ways tha.t infringe upon the rights of others. But no American can expect what she or he believes to become detenninative, or even informative, of public policy unless it is put forward on the basis of experience and reason and is sustained through public debate conducted exclusively on this basis.

There is a certain parallel, or analogy, here to the situation with respect to academic freedom and the autonomy of academic institutions. Any academic institution can propagate any beliefs it chooses to propagate, consistently with not transgressing laws controlling such propagation. But no acadelnic institution can expect to be accepted and supported as a properly academic, rather than a merely proprietary, institution unless it upholds and submits to the requirements of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

n.d.; 7 November 2009