"We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands.” That is effectively the new policy position at Yale University Press...Click on the title, above, to see the letter.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Academic Freedom Abridged at Yale Press
An open letter from Cary Nelson, AAUP President, about Yale University Press' decision that "eliminated all visual depictions of the Prophet Muhammad from Jytte Klausen’s new book The Cartoons That Shook the World." Nelson writes,
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3 comments:
I'm not sure what the abrdigement of academic freedom is here. Can't the person publish the book using a different press or have it self-publshed?
Neil,
Every contract assumes that the parties actually are what they claim to be. Freedom from censorship of content ("Academic freedom") is part of what defines a "University Press." This was part of what the editor and the various contributors agreed to when they signed over their copyrights to Yale University Press. They are no longer free to take it elsewhere.
I'm sure that in the future, academic authors will insist on an explicit academic freedom clause in their contracts with university presses. In the present instance, Yale University Press' compliance with terrorist censorship is, while possibly non-justiciable, at minimum grossly unethical.
Adam,
I don't support any breach of contract, but I find it very hard to determine what actually happened reading the article you link.
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