Abstract
THE Conference on Academic Freedom held at Oxford on August 1416 was arranged by tho provisional committee formed last October following the censure passed on addresses by Mr. H. D. Dickinson, of the University of Leeds, and Prof. H. J. Laski, of the University of London, The Conference opened with a discussion on academic and professional freedom, ovor which Prof. J. L. Myres presided, and a standing committee was formed to give permanent character to the protest against any infringement of the rights of academic freedom. Mr. G. D. H. Cole pointed out that, although in Great Britain we are relatively immune from interference with academic and professional freedom, there is a sorious danger of a rapid growth of intolerance, and this applies particularly to the professional worker in business or industry. What is wanted is not to prevent interference altogether but to keep it within the limits within which it is absolutely necessary. The difficulty arises over the exercise of the professional man's rights as a citizen and the rights he holds in common with other people in matters of personal conduct and behaviour. Bertrand Russell made a vigorous plea for freedom for teachers to express their opinions within as well as outside their professional activities, and for organised defence against victimisation.
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Academic Freedom. Nature 136, 329 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136329b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136329b0