What Goes Around, Comes Around: Legal Ironies in an Emergent Doctrine for Preserving Academic Freedom and the University Mission

This article proceeds chronologically. It begins in Part II with the dismantling of the traditional religious clauses and free speech balancing doctrines by the Rehnquist Court. The Rehnquist Court's doctrine applicable to religious speech in "the university" developed in several cases, culminating in Bd. of Regents of the Univ. of Wisc. Sys. v. Southworth Part III analyzes that case and its doctrine and explains how it poses a danger to free inquiry in higher education.

Part IV chronicles the litigious aftermath of Southworth, which demonstrates how Southworth opened the door for Religious Right challenges to curricular programs; and it also identifies some evidence of a resultant chilling effect on curricular policy-making. Part V reviews the FAIR case and suggests how the associational rights doctrine might provide a counterpoise to the Religious Right's siege on free inquiry.