On the other hand however, those students and professors who are shaping or will be shaping our societal structures, are being denied their democratic freedom to learn alternative perspectives. Norman Finkelstein¹s tenure denial should be taken as a warning of things to come.

Professor Finkelstein did not need to abandon his country. In that sense his exile is not the same as that faced by intellectuals in other countries and other times, but how relevant would that comparison be anyway? What is important is what academic exile means today, in the 21st century in the United States, the country which is on a crusade to liberate the whole of humanity from the barbaric claws of dictators, the spread of terrorism and the alternative perspectives of political dissenters.

Academic exile in this context is a dangerous concept. It carries with it the most serious injustice applied to a population of students and professors, no freedom to learn. The fact that the Dean of DePaul University let professor Finkelstein walk away is a sad reality, which speaks volumes about the kind of education that is sought in that institution. It allows a glimpse into the institution¹s non-commitment to freedom of learning. However, what is more disturbing is the fact that work there is continuing as normal both by professors and students. How can one continue carrying out work in an institution after it is clearly denying its population its most fundamental right, the freedom to learn, the one freedom it is meant to excel in. This seems to me outrageous and frankly, I feel sorry for everyone in that institution who is living without that right.

What is also disturbing, is that the academic population of the democratic world seems to be asleep, obviously too indulged in the indoctrination of the propaganda apparatus set up by their country¹s elites. Academia has yet to realize that with Finkelstein¹s departure, freedom to learn was lost by a whole community of scholars.

Academia in democracy is experiencing a paradigm shift in which freedom to learn is losing relevance, recuperating it will entail a difficult task, since most individuals are unaware of having lost it.

Pablo Ouziel is a sociologist and freelance writer 

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