Three long but interesting posts showed up today on Crooked Timber regarding academic freedom.

First, can anyone play this game? Or, is academic freedom really something different from free speech? Also covering why it might be a bad idea to have a lawyer who specializes in the First Amendment and calls it "a robust marketplace that will marginalize extremism" as Ivy League university president.

Second, some propositions. Moving from the east to the west coast, what is the philosophical basis for academic freedom? Is it a self-evident right? Is it a societal contract, in which academics receive quid (freedom) for quo (some other benefit to society that arises from free academics)? Is it just good management on the universities' part, to keep their employees happy? And what does this all have to do with whether Berkeley should continue to employ war criminal John Yoo?

And third, some resources. Less in-depth than the other two posts, but a useful list for those who find the blog coverage of this issue too shallow and want some real reading.