Charles Muscatine: Stifling Academic Freedom
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Charles Muscatine was a newly appointed professor in 1949 when he encouraged his students at the University of California-Berkeley to stand up for their beliefs. In the early days of the Cold War, Berkeley and many other institutions fell in line with the government and required university employees to sign loyalty oaths. Muscatine and 30 other professors who refused were fired. It took him a year to find another university job, at an institution of lesser academic repute. In 1954, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the non-signers and rescinded the loyalty oath, but Muscatine's career was already damaged. |
My Story
ThemesFreedom of Speech at the University. Universities are usually known as bastions of free speech and open discussion. Charles Muscatine, Ruth Obel-Jorgensen and Konstanty Hordynski certainly believed this to be true until they found themselves the subjects of unlawful monitoring and restrictive policies. |
