Freedom of the Colleges

Last month, members of the Appropriations Committee of the North Carolina House of Representatives voted to use the power of the state budget to block the assignment of a book to all freshmen and transfer students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations (White Cloud Press, 1999), by Michael Sells, a professor of religion at Haverford College. Denying public funds to the reading program unless "all other known …

…he reaffirmed the value of academic freedom in a world of moral crises: "I asked myself whether it still makes sense to strive for a peaceful society based on reason and understanding. Then the answer came to me clearly, and it is summarized by the Hebrew word davka -- despite everything." The North Carolina, Minnesota, and Missouri legislatures -- and, indeed, legislatures, boards, and those of us on campuses everywhere -- should be so bold.