MONTANA, United States. — A modern university is a higher learning institution committed to teaching, research, and the exchange of ideas and viewpoints. A longstanding view of universities is that they are models of academic freedom, and more broadly freedom of expression. The first documentary evidence of this tradition comes from the University of Bologna, which around 1155 adopted an academic statute that guaranteed the right of a traveling professor to travel unhindered in the interest of education. The concept of academic freedom in our times is internationally recognized by the successor to the Bologna statute, the Magna Charta Universitysigned by 805 universities from 85 countries.
One of the criticisms leveled at modern universities is that the adoption of business management models has overshadowed pedagogical or intellectual concerns, turning them into “university corporations.” This may be an exaggeration, but it is clear that corporate management techniques influencing university administrations are followed by hierarchical business attitudes, not academic collegiality. This intolerant command-and-control management mentality may be perfectly suited to the business world, but in a university context it risks the growth and promotion of academic freedom.
These are not university leaders involved in open censorship or free speech infringements. It is a much more subtle creation of a Kafkaesque environment (Franz Kafka 1883-1924) for teachers. In other words, we are witnessing a management style that encourages the impotence of the individual. Such outlandish displays of authority leave teachers helpless.
Consider these recent Kafkaesque situations involving the University of Miami and Florida International University:
In July 2017, Dr. Jaime Suchlicki, then Director of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) from the University of Miami, wrote to his staff: “I hereby inform you that on August 17, 2017, I will be leaving the University of Miami. The Chancellor’s office has ordered me to terminate the operations of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies; Consequently, your position has been eliminated and you will be placed on furlough status on August 15, 2017.”
For decades ICCAS served as a well-informed thinktank high-level investigative investigation critical of the Castro regime in Cuba, and the community vigorously protested the silencing of this necessary voice. In the ensuing clamor, the President of the University of Miami, Dr. Julio Frenk, pointed out, not naively, that it had not been his intention to close ICCAS. In fact, in a meeting with community leaders on August 18, 2017, he promised to recruit a new director and resume activities.
Another similarly Kafkaesque situation occurred at Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Modesto (Mitch) Maidique, FIU’s distinguished 23-year president (1986-2009) who later became a professor, fell out of favor with the University Council. Dr. Maidique’s accomplishments as President of FIU are without precedent or comparison. So much so that in 2009 the Board of Trustees unanimously approved naming the central facilities of the University as Modesto Maidique Campus (MMC) to honor him.
Now, the FIU Board of Trustees is upset with Dr. Maidique for criticizing his leadership, and in retaliation, some members have proposed removing Maidique’s name from campus, renaming it after a potential ghost donor. As with ICCAS and the University of Miami, the motives are suspicious and unseemly.
I must inform the reader and point out that I was a member of the ICCAS team when the UM president ordered it to be dismantled, and that I consider Mitch Maidique a friend. But I see those two cases as Kafkaesque displays involving abuses of administrative power to silence dissent. More troubling, however, is that this intolerance arises with university leaders who should be teaching and inspiring our youth with personal examples and the democratic values that enrich and entrench our society: pluralism and freedom of expression.
In these university failures, the Kafkaesque flourishes, and it is completely regrettable.
Note: Dr Azel’s latest book is “Freedom for Rookies”
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