The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to the University of Dayton calling on the university to reaffirm its own commitments to freedom of thought after an unfortunate administrative intervention into a scholarly conference organized by members of its faculty and held on the university campus.
The Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton organized a conference that was held on campus in December. Tlaleng Mofokeng was invited to be a keynote speaker to discuss the public health issues relating to the pandemic. Mofokeng is a Special Rapporteur with the United Nations. She is also a medical doctor in South Africa and has apparently performed abortions. The university leadership disinvited Mofokeng, stating that the Mofokeng's actions relating to abortion were contrary to the Catholic mission of the university and that her presence threatened to cause "negative reactions" that would "disrupt" the conference.
Although a religious institution, Dayton has in place a fairly robust academic freedom policy that simply replicates the standard American Association of University Professors principles. Given that commitment to faculty, the university's actions in intervening in an academic program and disinviting a speaker is a significant intrusion into academic freedom principles and undercuts the university's stated commitments.
