UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS frequently pay lip service to the concept of academic freedom, but few of them know what they're really talking about, says Glendon College historian Michiel Horn.

Curiously, Horn says academics themselves, by and large, are not all that interested in the history of how academic freedom has evolved in Canada.

Horn is both an academic and an expert when it comes to the matter of academic freedom in Canada. His recently published book, Academic Freedom in Canada: A History (University of Toronto Press, 1999), charts the changing nature of academic freedom in English Canada and is based on his extensive archival research in more than 20 university and public archives across Canada.

"I wanted to locate the idea of academic freedom in its institutional and social contexts," says Horn. Horn's research was funded by both the SSHRC and Glendon College.

"I think this is important research because universities are always under threat, as is the freedom of academics to do what it is they are supposed to be doing. Of course, these days, the threat is not so much political as economic."

Most notably - as opposed to historical issues such as universities' resistance to Darwinist thought or whether academics should be allowed to run for public office - the '80s and '90s brought with them issues like political correctness and tight budgets.

Illustration: Tracy Cox