Academic Freedom Doesn't Protect Ideological Deans

It's perfectly appropriate, particularly for a public school, to consider whether a university leader would play well with "key external stakeholders."

The University of Arkansas School of Law hired Professor Emily Suski as dean in early January, but promptly rescinded that offer less than a week later based on “feedback from key external stakeholders.”

It turns out that Suski joined a Supreme Court brief arguing that federal law guarantees biological males the right to participate in female sports. That position might seem self-evident in the ivory tower, but in the real world, there’s consensus across the political spectrum that this position is wrong as a matter of law, policy and science.

Elite academics predictably cried foul. The Association of American Law Schools charged that the job rescission was a “blatant violation of academic freedom” and a “threat to the legal profession.” That group of august law professors might need to go back to school.