Contrary to the attitudes of many of my colleagues in the academy, academic freedom and independence are not rights or entitlements. They result from a political bargain and one that has become more fraught in recent decades.
Essentially, the bargain goes like this: Academics will independently cultivate, curate, expand, and disseminate knowledge from the sciences to poetry, and particularly the “pure” knowledge that often isn’t directly profitable but lays the foundation for personal development, social development, and the development of things like space programs. In return, the public and state acknowledge and support universities with various privileges and delegated independence. When the bargain is working correctly, academics are “on tap,” not “on top.”
