Academic Exile and Freedom to Learn

By Pablo Ouziel

Maybe one day will come to terms with the importance of the fundamental
freedom to learn. Then we will stand together and demand it, because without
it a truly free society can never exist. If we realize this, we will bring
back outstanding professors like Norman Finkelstein to continue their
contribution to the freedom of learning in the universities of our cherished
democratic societies.

People paid relatively little attention to professor Finkelstein¹s tenure denial.
After a few united outcries of indignation, the collective interest faded
and only a few scattered individuals continued their concern for the social
implications to our society. Professor Finkelstein gracefully stepped out of
his academic career minimizing the conflict with an institution he clearly
respected. Although we should all be concerned about his future, our main
concern should be with those students and professors, whom will miss out on
the knowledge they could have shared with the professor within the academic
institution.

Norman Finkelstein will of course keep surprising us with his seminal work
in defence of justice and honesty. The relevance of his work is far bigger
than the world of academia, and too relevant to be ignored in the times of
crisis which humanity is submerged in. Society needs those individuals who
are able to think outside of the box and focus on the structural issues,
which have eroded our democracy. Sooner or later we are going to have to
knock on his door.

On the other hand however, those students and professors who are shaping or
will be shaping our societal structures, are being denied their democratic
freedom to learn alternative perspectives. Norman Finkelstein¹s tenure
denial should be taken as a warning of things to come.

Professor Finkelstein did not need to abandon his country. In that sense his
exile is not the same as that faced by intellectuals in other countries and
other times, but how relevant would that comparison be anyway? What is
important is what academic exile means today, in the 21st century in the
United States, the country which is on a crusade to liberate the whole of
humanity from the barbaric claws of dictators, the spread of terrorism and
the alternative perspectives of political dissenters.

Academic exile in this context is a dangerous concept. It carries with it
the most serious injustice applied to a population of students and
professors, no freedom to learn. The fact that the Dean of DePaul University
let professor Finkelstein walk away is a sad reality, which speaks volumes
about the kind of education that is sought in that institution. It allows a
glimpse into the institution¹s non-commitment to freedom of learning.
However, what is more disturbing is the fact that work there is continuing
as normal both by professors and students. How can one continue carrying out
work in an institution after it is clearly denying its population its most
fundamental right, the freedom to learn, the one freedom it is meant to
excel in. This seems to me outrageous and frankly, I feel sorry for everyone
in that institution who is living without that right.

What is also disturbing, is that the academic population of the democratic
world seems to be asleep, obviously too indulged in the indoctrination of
the propaganda apparatus set up by their country¹s elites. Academia has yet
to realize that with Finkelstein¹s departure, freedom to learn was lost by a
whole community of scholars.

Academia in democracy is experiencing a paradigm shift in which freedom to
learn is losing relevance, recuperating it will entail a difficult task,
since most individuals are unaware of having lost it.

Pablo Ouziel is a sociologist and freelance writer