Ruminations on academic freedom

Aweh, My Dearly Beloved Fellow Ruminants & Groupies

What can you say, and what are the risks of saying it? Can I say anything I like on my blog?

Theoretically, yes. But if you work in a corporation, you’re expected to speak in carefully laundered PR-approved phrases while the official spokesperson spoon-feeds the public a sanitized message. Translation: You shut up; they speak.

Now, writing a provocative, irreverent blog featuring pink ruminants while working in corporate? Unwise. So, I waited until I was out. In my blog description, I say:

“This blog is where I exercise my bullshit deflectors, scream into the abyss, and generally piss into the wind because I can.”

I started this blog after leaving corporate life behind. Then, a year into retirement, I became a business school academic, and there was no problem with continuing my blog because I had academic freedom! I had the freedom to be myself.

In theory, Academic freedom means that faculty, researchers, and students can pursue knowledge, conduct research, and express ideas without censorship—whether from governments, corporations, fellow academics, or university administrators.

In reality, underfunded Universities need money, and money usually comes with strings attached.

Once upon a time, Enron was Wall Street’s golden child—an “innovative” energy giant. It was also deeply embedded in business schools, sponsoring research, shaping curricula, and appearing in glowing Harvard Business School case studies.

McKinsey (bless their cotton socks) praised Enron’s “genius” and published glowing reports about its brilliance, ignoring the lack of transparency and rampant fraud. Harvard, Stanford, and other top universities glorified Enron’s management strategy, failing to ask inconvenient questions—like, “Hey, are you guys actually making money?”

The whole thing imploded in 2001, leaving a smouldering crater of fraud, bankruptcies, and broken pensions. Only after the collapse did business schools do some intense navel gazing talking about ethics, transparency, and corporate governance. A bit late, don’t you think?

Although some academics and experts raised alarms about corporate corruption and weak auditing practices, their warnings were often ignored or dismissed until after the collapse. The Enron scandal later reinforced the role of academic whistleblowers in corporate ethics and accountability.

Before Enron’s collapse, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman raised concerns about corporate deregulation and overhyped stock valuations in the late 1990s. In 2001, just months before Enron imploded, he criticized the company’s lack of transparency and aggressive lobbying for deregulation.

Fast-forward to today, and does the game remain the same?

Can private donors buy influence? Sometimes they can.
Do universities let them? Sometimes they do.

Take Charles Koch, fossil-fuel billionaire extraordinaire. His political network funnelling hundreds of millions into “research” and “education” isn’t just philanthropy—it’s influence.

In 2015, Koch projected that two-thirds of his political spending (an estimated $900 million) would go to “research and education” rather than direct political lobbying.

Universities need the money, and billionaires like Koch use that desperation to steer research, dictate programming, and even influence faculty hiring.

Corporate funding in academia can threaten academic freedom in multiple ways. Corporations may attempt to prevent the publication or promotion of studies that could damage their reputation or profits.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) argues that clear guidelines are essential to uphold the integrity of academic institutions. Given reduced state funding universities have turned to private philanthropy to compensate for increasing state disinvestment. These private donations have allowed universities to build new classrooms, appoint additional staff, offer new programs, and expand their research capacity—but often within criteria set by donors rather than by the campus community or per the institution’s educational mission. 

Underfunded universities face a very difficult problem and maintaining academic freedom and integrity requires strong internal oversight to ensure that corporate or government-funded projects align with academic integrity. Contracts need to guarantee academic independence in research publications.

Princeton University provides an interesting case study regarding funding by fossil fuel companies. In September 2022, Princeton’s Board of Trustees voted to dissociate from 90 companies involved in the thermal coal and tar sands segments of the fossil fuel industry, citing their significant contributions to carbon emissions. But was this wise? By October 2024, the University revised its stance, allowing the acceptance of research funds from previously dissociated fossil fuel companies under specific conditions. Faculty must retain the freedom to publish their research without restriction and only research grants for specific projects are permitted. Broad funding agreements and gifts are not permitted.

But Princeton is among the wealthiest academic institutions globally with an endowment valued at $34 billion. This substantial endowment affords Princeton the luxury of dictating terms to corporate funders.

The issue of how underfunded universities maintain academic integrity and remain financially viable is a wicked problem and I don’t know the answers. Dearly beloved readers perhaps you do, and I look forward to hearing from you.

So, here we are, dearly beloved ruminants—stuck in the reality, where universities need cash, corporations buy influence, and billionaires play puppet masters with research grants. How realistic is the dream of pure, untainted academic freedom? If you want to keep the lights on, do you sometimes have to dance for the donors? —but ideally without selling your soul (or your research integrity) in the process. So, what’s the solution? I don’t know, but if you figure it out, let me know before we all end up working for a think tank funded by Elongated Rusk.

Regards,

Bruce