The Winds of Freedom: Addressing Challenges to the University

246 Pages·2014·1.4 MB·English

by  Gerhard Casper

THE WINDS OF FREEDOM
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The Winds
of Freedom
Addressing Challenges
to the University
GERHARD CASPER
New Haven and London
Published with assistance from the Offi ce of the
Vice President, Yale University.
Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of
Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
Copyright © 2014 by Gerhard Casper.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in w hole or in part, including
illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107
and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public
press), without written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for
educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail
[email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Designed by Sonia Shannon.
Set in Galliard type by Westchester Book Group.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Casper, Gerhard.
The winds of freedom : addressing challenges to the university / Gerhard
Casper.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-300-19691-7 (hardback)
1. Education, Higher—Philosophy. 2. Education, Higher—Aims and
objectives. 3. Academic freedom. 4. Stanford University. I. Title.
LB2322.2.C39 2014
378.001—dc23
2013022143
A catal ogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Katherine and Matthew
“It is a plea sure to live . . .
Studies blossom and the minds
move.”
—Ulrich von Hutten
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Contents
Preface ix
1. Roles of a University President 1
2. The Wind of Freedom Blows 17
3. Invectives: On Rendering Judgment at the
University 54
4. Corry v. Stanford University: The Issue of Free
Expression 64
5. Concerning Culture and Cultures: Campus
Diversity 87
6. The University in a Po liti cal Context 111
7. Affi rmative Action 141
8. The Advantage of the Research- Intensive
University 168
9. Thinking in a Free and Open Space 188
10. Coda 196
Ac know ledg ments 205
Index 207
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Preface
F
rom 1992 to 2000, I served as president of Stanford Univer-
sity. In those eight years, I gave, on average, about one speech
every three days, not excluding weekends, holidays, or vaca-
tions. By “speech,” I mean anything ranging from a formal lecture
to “Pop-U p- Gerhard” remarks. (“President Casper, I am sure you
would like to say a few words.”) I mostly took these “speech acts”
very seriously. Much of what a university president can do is accom-
plished with words. University governance, to a large extent, is self-
governance by faculties as constituted in departments, schools, and
institutes. While the president of a university has real powers and
can make decisions that deeply infl uence the direction of the insti-
tution, much of the time he or she has to rely primarily on persua-
sion. Speech acts clarify what matters to the speaker and thus set a
tone that is both personal and institutional.
In a 1946 letter, the University of Chicago president Robert
Hutchins complained that when a university gets big and compli-
cated, “the burden of institutional detail is so great that nobody can
think of what the institution is for.” My speeches— virtually all of
my speeches—w ere an attempt to address what I think the research-
intensive university is for.
They covered a wide array of topics. I wrote them mostly my-
self (though, of course, I benefi ted from some very able help), and I
worried about them all the time, since, in many instances, any given
occasion would be the only occasion where that par ticu lar audience
was exposed to my voice as the voice of the university.
ix