Homophobia and academic freedom

SUMMARY Addressing homophobia and heterosexism as a teacher raises issues of respect for the intellectual freedom of your students. The central thesis of this article is that these issues are best addressed on the basis of general principles of academic freedom-that is, intellectual freedom in educational and research contexts. Three cases are analyzed on the basis of principles developed by the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska (AFCON). These principles permit advocacy, rather than requiring neutrality, but do not permit indoctrination. That is, instructors may express and justify their own ideas relevant to the curriculum and try to convince students to adopt those ideas and/or abandon alternatives, but must not coerce or require belief, censor or punish students who remain unconvinced, or restrict access to alternative views.