Fired up over academic freedom 3

The complexity of the notion of academic freedom is revealedJby the way it emerges in different contexts. There are also some attempts to hijack it. The Academic Bill of Rights ("Students who pay the piper may call the tune", August 18) is viewed by many as a disguised restriction on academic freedom. Notions such as free speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought and conscience, commodification, consumerism, intellectual pluralism, professorial accountability and so on, can easily collide around the academic freedom nexus. Vigilance is required.

Tim Birtwistle
Leeds Metropolitan University