186 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus faculty would like to exercise the academic freedom they obtain under collective agreements to expand the commercialization of their research activities. Should faculty associations play a role in educating the professoriate on the dangers of academic capitalism? Should their role shift to more closely resemble a professional organization? Should university governance structures be reformed in order to strengthen the role of the academic senate? These are major criticisms, but they are also based on a scholarly review of a book that was probably intended to provide university faculty in many disciplines with an accessible introduction to a very important series of issues and concerns. Tudiver's description of the rise of faculty unionization and his review of major events in the history of faculty bargaining represents an interesting contribution to the higher education literature. Unfortunately, the book contributes relatively little that is new to the very complex, scholarly discussion of "corporate control over Canadian higher education." ty Michiel Horn. (1999). Academic Freedom in Canada: A Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. Pages: 446 (paper). History. Reviewed by Brian Titley, The University of Lethbridge While academic freedom can have many nuances of meaning, it is generally understood as the right of university professors to teach and conduct research without interference. This includes the right to participate in public life, to champion unpopular positions and to criticize university administrations without jeopardizing their employment. Today, most of us who work in the academy take these rights for granted, more or less, and it is easy to assume that things have always been this way. Michiel Horn's Academic Freedom in Canada: A History shows that such an assumption would be completely wrong. The struggle for academic freedom has been a long and difficult one and the concept continues to face challenges. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education VolumeXXX, No. 2,2000 187 Book Review s/Comptes Rendus Horn begins, appropriately enough, by examining the origins of the concept. He traces it to nineteenth century German university reforms which subsequently influenced American graduate faculties. The American Association of University Professors, founded in 1915, played a critical role in advancing professorial self-governance and the freedoms it implied. Canadian professors were much later in organizing and asserting themselves. Until comparatively recently, out universities were under the direction of boards of governors on which professors were not represented. The clergy, lawyers and businessmen who dominated these boards tended to be sensitive to prevailing prejudices, prompting them to rein in professors who challenged the status quo. There was much lip service to academic freedom for most of the twentieth century, but in practice, controversial professors had little protection from arbitrary dismissal. Horn points out that religion posed the greatest threat to academic freedom during the nineteenth century, declining gradually in the twentieth. Most Canadian universities were founded as religious institutions, either Catholic or Protestant. In Catholic universities academic freedom was never a major issue since most professors were priests and subject to vows of obedience. In Protestant institutions, however, doctrinal disputes between conservative and liberal factions caused no end of troubles. And lay professors, if they questioned the dogmas of Christianity, might find themselves looking for work. The forces of secularization that overwhelmed most of these institutions as the decades passed, removed these threats. Secularization and democratization went hand in hand, although Horn plays down this connection and I think unjustifiably so. New ideas were often greeted with suspicion in the academy even if the orthodoxies they challenged were not religious in nature. Darwinism, freudianism, socialism and the like were often risky to espouse down until the 1960s. And during both world wars it took great courage for a professor to speak out against British imperialism. Boards of governors could not tolerate anyone who might discourage young people from offering themselves as cannon fodder for the Empire. Horn describes in fascinating detail the travails of University of Toronto history professor Frank Underhill, whose criticism of Canada's obsequiousness to Britain The Canadian Journal ofHigher Education Volume XXX, No. 2, 2000 188 Book Review s/Comptes Rendus before and during World War II provoked a campaign to dismiss or intern him. Underhill survived, but only after vigorous intervention by powerful supporters. Another sorry episode recounted in deserving detail involved a second history professor, Harry Crowe. Dismissed from United College in 1958 after criticizing the administration in private correspondence that was leaked to the principal, he was later vindicated and reinstated but only after major controversy. Widely publicized cases such as those of Underhill and Crowe served as warnings to professors. Pronouncing on topical issues or being disloyal to one's institution could bring reprisals. While university presidents often publicly defended academic freedom, they usually did so while emphasizing its limits. They aimed to avoid controversy lest the wealthy benefactors or political figures who provided funding should punish them by tightening the purse-strings. Horn is at pains to point out on several occasions in the book that the vast majority of university professors never harboured radical or dangerous thoughts. The bourgeois tradition of deference to authority ensured that rebels remained a rare breed. It is hard to argue with that. There are some excellent sections in the book about the growing role of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, founded in 1951, in challenging the model of paternalistic governance and in securing professorial involvement in university administration. CAUT was instrumental in connecting tenure and academic freedom and in backing faculty associations in their drive to have these twin concepts enshrined in collective agreements. By the 1960s agreements increasingly allowed for tenure after a satisfactory period of probation. Prior to this, employment contracts tended to be individual in nature and were dependent on "the pleasure of the board" or good conduct." But even with these new agreements in place, Horn show that academic freedom was by no means guaranteed. There were many cases in the 1970s and 1980s of professors pressured to resign their positions because of personality incompatibility or the espousal of controversial positions. And Horn concludes by identifying new threats to academic freedom. One comes from the corporate sector which would like to narrow the university's role to the production of skilled workers for the The Canadian Journal of Higher Education Volume XXX, No. 2, 2000 Book Review s/Comptes Rendus 189 global marketplace. Another is political correctness and the tactics of intimidation that sometimes accompany it. Horn champions a broad liberal view of the university; an institution that welcomes diverse opinions and vigorous debate. I couldn't agree more. Some readers may quibble with the relative lack of attention in the book to francophone/Catholic universities. But this is a minor flaw. Michiel Horn has given us a thoroughly researched, well-written, balanced and fascinating account of one of the defining characteristics of our universities. Academic Freedom in Canada deserves a wide readership. • * • The Canadian journal ofHigher Education Volume XXX, No. 2,2000