Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship
The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) is a Canadian non-profit organization founded to promote academic freedom and intellectual excellence on Canadian institutions of higher education (i.e., college and university campuses). It opposes campus speech codes, political and religious tests for academic hiring, hate-speech legislation that restricts academic freedom, and non-merit-based affirmative action in university hiring. The SAFS also works to promote reasoned debate on a wide range of issues relating to academic freedom and scholarly excellence. Although its membership is open to the general public, the Society is  composed mostly of faculty and students from Canadian universities. History. The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship was established in 1992 in London, Ontario. Its first newsletter was published in May 1992. Founding members. The society's initial membership included the following founding academic officers: Section::::"SAFS Newsletter". Since its founding, the SAFS has published a regular tri-annual newsletter (January, April, September), originally entitled the Society for Academic Freedom & Scholarship Newsletter, later renamed the SAFS Newsletter. The newsletter contains news articles and commentary relating to issues in higher education. The first issue, appearing in May 1992, contained articles by Judy  Wubnig and John J. Furedy, as well as announcements from the Board of Directors. Editors of the newsletter have been as follows: Organization. The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship is financed solely by membership fees and voluntary donations. Mandate and goals. In its first newsletter, the SAFS listed its central goals as being the defense of intellectual freedom and the promotion of academic excellence. Specifically, it listed the society's founding purposes as being:(1) To resist the ideological misuse of teaching and scholarship, (2) To support rigorous standards in research and teaching in university hiring practices, and (3) To  preserve academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas, regardless of popular doctrine.Beginning in 2001, the Society began advertising its main purpose as helping to maintain "freedom in teaching, research and scholarship" and helping to defend "high standards of excellence in academic decision making concerning both students and faculty." Board of directors. The current board of directors is composed as follows: Past presidents of the society have been: Activities and influence. Throughout its history, SAFS has been vocal in its opposition to policies it believes are inconsistent with the goals of an open, meritocratic, academic community. It is in  this context that it has spoken out against campus speech codes, hate-speech legislation that impinges on academic freedom, religious and political tests used in place of strictly academic criteria in university hiring, and non-merit-based affirmative action programs for the hiring of university faculty and librarians. Moreover, unlike some other non-profit societies with similar goals, SAFS has been as much concerned with the academic freedom of university students as it has with the that of university faculty. Since its founding, the Society has regularly been called on by the media to comment on cases relating to academic  freedom across Canada. The SAFS has also aspired to promote reasoned debate on a wide range of cases and issues relating to academic freedom and scholarship quite broadly. In addition to sponsoring conferences and panel discussions, the SAFS makes publicly available on its official website most of its correspondence concerning cases that it has been involved with. Such correspondences—which often include replies from university administrators, union representatives, and others—provide insight into a large variety of significant Canadian cases relating to academic freedom. According to "The Globe and Mail" columnist Robert Fulford, SAFS has stood up for academic freedom  at a time when "fresh waves of intolerance continue to sweep across academe." Similarly, in the "National Post", columnist Barbara Kay describes the Society members as "accomplished, disinterested, ruthlessly honest academics united in visceral contempt for those of their peers who are willing to bend and manipulate the truth to serve their ideological ends." For several years the Society recognized important contributions to academic freedom through its Furedy Academic Freedom Award. Established by John and Christine Furedy in honour of John's parents, Bela and Dusi Furedy, the award recognized members of the university community, both students and faculty, who  have championed academic freedom. Annual General Meeting. The first SAFS Annual General Meeting was held on 17 May 1994 at the University of Toronto. From then on, keynote speakers and addresses have included: