David M. Rabban is Dahr Jamail, Randall Hage Jamail, and Robert Lee Jamail Regents Chair in Law and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas School of Law. The author of Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years, he was General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors and chaired its Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure.
The best kind of scholarship—deeply researched and immensely useful. Wherever you stand on issues of free speech and academic freedom, you will learn from this book. -- Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University The best book that I have seen on academic freedom and its relationship to the First Amendment. It describes the history of academic freedom in the Supreme Court and in lower courts, and develops a useful approach for applying the concept. A must-read for all involved in higher education. -- Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Berkeley School of Law A major work on the history and practice of academic freedom in the United States by one of our leading experts. This landmark contribution could not be more timely and more necessary. -- Keith Whittington, Princeton University Essential. Through insightful analysis of historical controversies and conflicting case law, David Rabban constructs a theoretical framework that foregrounds the distinctive value of expert academic inquiry in fostering knowledge and promoting democratic citizenship. This book clarifies the meaning not only of academic freedom but also of free speech more broadly and the First Amendment itself. -- Laura Weinrib, Harvard Law School Indispensable. Academic freedom is a perennially contested subject, particularly in its constitutional dimensions, but David Rabban has authored a comprehensive guide to the law. -- Robert Post, Yale Law School