AltLiberalArts Lecture Series: Academic Freedom in the United States Today
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
4 PM New York l 10 PM Vienna
AltLiberalArts presents a lecture by Nicholas Tampio, professor of political science at Fordham University, on the history of the idea of academic freedom. In this lecture, Professor Tampio thinks about how to defend academic freedom in our current moment. To ground his thinking, he will discuss debates about tenure in a public higher education system (Ohio) and a private university (Harvard). Tampio will present the strongest arguments he can find for restricting what professors may teach or say in public, and he will offer a full throated defense of the rights of academics to act like Socratic gadflies stinging the people who pay the university's bills.
Nicholas Tampio is a professor of political science at Fordham University. He earned a BA from New College, an MA from Indiana University, and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University. Tampio researches the history of political thought, contemporary political theory, and education policy. Tampio is an associate editor of The Journal of Politics, and he often writes for public facing outlets such as the Boston Globe, USA Today, and the Washington Post. He lives with his family in Ridgefield, Connecticut.