Judge Easterbrook: Public Universities Should Have Free Hand in Restricting Professors' Teaching

Volokh Conspiracy : Academic freedom is essential to the educational enterprise.

He says a university can decide for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught and who may be admitted to study.

University of Illinois Chicago evidently does not follow the Chicago Principles , he says.

Volok Conspiracy : Students must choose educational setting that best matches their needs.

The University has been reduced to making arguments about just which decisions do not "clearly establish" what I take to be a nonexistent constitutional right of professors to use offensive words in class or on exams.

These arguments do not justify a hearing en banc. Other arguments that the University could have made are profoundly important, however, and should be entertained when properly presented.