Review Editor's Introduction

Abstract

Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus. By Donald Alexander Downs. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 318p. $28.99 cloth, $19.99 paper.Donald Downs's Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus is an important book. Like his earlier books, it integrates political theory, jurisprudence, and policy analysis to address a matter of contemporary concern. In this case, the matter at hand is directly relevant to all scholars and teachers who work in the contemporary American university. Since this includes most political scientists, it seemed like a good idea to open the pages of the Perspectives Book Reviews to a range of perspectives on the book. I have thus sought out a “balanced” cast of distinguished commentators, in the hope that the juxtaposition of different reviews will help to promote serious discussion of academic freedom issues of concern to all of us. Some of these issues are juridical, and regard the ways in which universities, academic departments, and perhaps even professional associations are called upon to codify “diversity” considerations and balance these with other considerations, including “academic excellence” but also civil liberty and robust debate. Some of them are principally ethical, and regard the habits of mind most conducive to intellectual inquiry and liberal education. These issues are complicated and controversial. In featuring the Downs volume and the three reviews that follow, I sought to stimulate intelligent discussion about them within the political science profession. It is my intention to organize similar discussions of other important books in future issues.