学术自由的界限:列文案始末

Limits of Academic Freedom: The Levin Case

列文案是20世纪90年代在美国高等教育界轰动一时的学术自由案件。迈克尔.列文是纽约城市学院的终身教授,因发表有争议的种族言论,学校对他采取了开设"影子课程"、设立特别委员会进行调查等措施。列文认为这些行为侵犯了他的言论自由和学术自由,将校方告上法庭,法院最终裁定列文胜诉。本文基于相关文献资料,完整梳理列文案件的全过程,力图分析在当代社会条件下学术自由的新内容,以此探讨学术自由的界限及其意义。

The Levin case, a case about academic freedom, caused a great flutter in the community of American higher education in the 1990＇s. Michael Levin is a tenured professor of philosophy at the City College of the City University of New York. Because of his controversial views on race, the College took measures such as creating the ＂shadow class＂ and forming an ad hoc committee to look into his speech. Professor Levin considered the measures an infringement of his freedom of speech and academic freedom, filed a suit against the president, and won the lawsuit eventually. Based on the original documents and materials, this article presents a concrete and thorough retrospect of the event, with a view to analyzing the new contents of academic freedom under the contemporary social conditions. Furthermore, this article discusses the limits of academic freedom and its significance to the tradition of academic freedom.