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."

- Read the rest of the article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)

Download the mp3 podcast (recorded by Chicago Indymedia)!

Introduction - Tariq Ali, Editor of the New Left Review and Verso Books
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and Director of The Heyman Center, Columbia University
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Tony Judt, University Professor and Director of the Remarque Institute, New York University
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. John Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
Listen now • Watch video

Question and Answer period - Listen now • Watch video

Mr. Evan Lorendo, Academic Freedom Committee, DePaul University
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Mehrene Larudee, International Studies Program, DePaul University
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Neve Gordon, Professor, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University
Listen now • Watch video

Dr. Norman Finkelstein, author of Image and Reality of the Israel Palestine Conflict, The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah
Listen now • Watch video

Sponsors:

Primary Sponsors

Diskord Magazine (University of Chicago, RSO), Verso Books (London), and Academic Freedom Committee (DePaul)

Co-Sponsors

University of Chicago: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Center for International Studies, and International House Global Voices Program*

Info:

For more information, please email us at: info@academicfreedomchicago.org

http://www.academicfreedomchicago.org