Cain and Taylor Named Fellows

McBee Institute of Higher Education faculty member Timothy R. Cain and McBee alumnus Barrett J. Taylor (Ph.D., 2012) have been named fellows at the American Association of University Professor’s new Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom. Launched as part of a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the Center is designed to explore the current challenges to academic freedom, counter the surge in restrictive legislation, and push back against well-funded efforts to reshape higher education in ways that could undercut core academic values. 

Fellows will spend two years examining the scope and nature of political interference in higher education, producing original research, and drafting actionable materials to help faculty and administrators respond to external threats to academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Cain’s studies of academic freedom include historical works on the origins and development of both principles and protections, analyses of academic freedom in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and considerations of how academic freedom relates to learning outcomes assessment and accreditation.

Taylor, a professor of higher education at the University of North Texas, is an expert in higher education policy, governance, and finance. His 2022 book Wrecked: Deinstitutionalization and Partial Defenses in State Higher Education examined higher education officials’ failure to robustly defend their institutions and systems against the politically motivated attacks that have undercut public trust in the entire enterprise.

For the full list of fellows, see: https://www.aaup.org/programs/academic-freedom/center-defense-academic-freedom/fellows-and-administration