Academic freedom talk honors Kinsey

The rights and privileges of academic freedom will be discussed today in the memory of controversial IU researcher and zoologist Alfred Kinsey. \nIn 1953, after the publication of the controversial Kinsey Report, then IU President Herman B Wells defended Kinsey's right to research sex by citing academic freedom.\n"As academic freedom is central to an open and informed society, the (American Association of University Presidents) has chosen to examine the status of academic freedom in American universities today," AAUP President and IU professor of physics Bennet B. Brabson said. \nThe discussion will be lead by Jim Capshew, IUB professor of history and philosophy of science. A biographer of Herman B Wells, Capshew will open the forum with a historical look at the defense Wells engineered to fight attacks against Kinsey's research. \n"Academic freedom is the bedrock of university life, just as freedom of speech is the foundation of American democracy," IUB Chancellor Sharon Brehm said. "The freedom to speak, to question, to inquire is the best guardian of liberty and a necessary part of intellectual and artistic activities that advance human knowledge and understanding. \n"Indiana University has a long and proud tradition of commitment to academic freedom and its civic counterpart, freedom of speech," she said. "This is a living tradition and that commitment remains as strong today as it was in the years of Herman Wells' presidency."\nSponsored by the local chapter of the AAUP and the Kinsey Institute, the event, which is open to the public, will take place at 3:30 p.m today in the Law School Moot Court Room at the corner of Third and Indiana streets. A reception will follow at 5 p.m.\n"In our roles as teachers and learners, all ideas are subject to our investigation, debate, understanding, research and publication," Brabson said in a statement. "This marvelous stuff called academic freedom is closely related to our fundamental freedom of speech as citizens."\nThe U.S. Supreme Court emphasized the value of academic freedom in the 1967 case Keyishian v. Board of Regents, saying, "Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned"