Liberdade acadêmica em tempos difíceis: diálogos Brasil e Estados Unidos

Abstract

This paper intends to discuss the academic freedom, its role and its possible limits and borders, from the paradigm of the Democratic Constitutional State, as configured in our constitutional text of October 1988. The discussion focuses on the relationship between the critical and investigative role expected of the Universities and of its members in relation to the so-called legislative proposals of the Escola Sem Partido movement. Hence, it explores if these proposals do not offend the constitutional freedom of professors, students, technicians and researchers, in addition to the higher education institutions themselves, when subjects that gravitate around their roles and responsibilities are taken into account. For this purpose, keeping in mind our own constitutional context, we decided to use Comparative Law, focusing on decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States that deal with the same issue addressed here. The analysis indicates that academic freedom has an essential and constitutionally recognized role in the Constitutional Democracy.