Wiktionary
n. The right to teach or learn freely without unreasonable interference from authority, or fear of reprisal.
WordNet
n. the freedom of teachers and students to express their ideas in school without religious or political or institutional restrictions
Wikipedia
Academic freedom is the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts (including those that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities) without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.
Academic freedom is a contested issue and, therefore, has limitations in practice. In the United States, for example, according to the widely recognized "1940 Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure" of the American Association of University Professors, teachers should be careful to avoid controversial matter that is unrelated to the subject. When they speak or write in public, they are free to express their opinions without fear from institutional censorship or discipline, but they should show restraint and clearly indicate that they are not speaking for their institution. Academic tenure protects academic freedom by ensuring that teachers can be fired only for causes such as gross professional incompetence or behavior that evokes condemnation from the academic community itself.
Usage examples of "academic freedom".
Pusey isn't everybody's hero nowadays, but when he talked tonight about the university's tradition of defending academic freedom, it was kind of moving.
Kerr's long and courageous battle to uphold academic freedom and students' rights in the face of those right-wing pressures that abound in California.
Instead, UNIX was licensed to universities, at modest rates, where the acids of academic freedom ate away steadily at AT&.
From the beginning, Maxwell had determined to give Terry complete academic freedom.
Instead, UNIX was licensed to universities, at modest rates, where the acids of academic freedom ate away steadily at AT&T's proprietary rights.
Even Selby seemed to be realizing to his discomfort that the academic freedom taken for granted in 1939 didn't extend to quite the extremes that his first conversations with Jeff had led him to imagine.
The universities in those days literally swarmed with young Faustian spirits who embarked with all sails set upon the high seas of learning and academic freedom, and ran aground on all the shoals of untrammeled dilettantism.
Issues illuminated: academic freedom, the sorority controversy, our much labeled (and libeled) generation.