Academic freedom is not a gift. It is a structure long protected by tenure, a contract with no expiration date that guarantees procedural protections to faculty.

Tenure has granted faculty at U.S. colleges and universities the rights to peer review, committee deliberation and presentation of evidence and witnesses before being fired. These protections, including the right to appeal, exist not as a bureaucratic formality, but as the architecture that makes free inquiry possible in practice.

These hard-earned protections are now at risk in several states. Dismantle them, and declarations of academic freedom become language without substance.

Read the full article about threats to tenure and academic freedom by Grant Mincy at The Hechinger Report.