12 October 2007 - In Defense of Academic Freedom

In Defense of Academic Freedom
12 October 2007

Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago

"The Oct. 12 conference, titled 'In Defense of Academic Freedom,' brought together not only Jews and non-Jews, but professors whose ideological differences are so vast they likely agree on little else than the notion that Jewish groups have degraded the quality and breadth of discussion in the media and in Washington.

Mearsheimer is a proponent of the realist school of international relations, which resists the intrusion of moral considerations into cold calculations of national interest. Chomsky's belief that American policy in the Middle East is motivated solely by imperialist aggression is greatly informed by the moral consequences of American behavior.

Nevertheless, they came together around the view that universities are the final redoubts of robust criticism of Israel. Naturally, they added, these institutions are now coming under assault."

http://www.academicfreedomchicago.org/?q=node/32

Well worth a listen, and thanks.

(though much his speech is unequivocal nonsense, &c.)