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Finding Aid
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Records of the Campaign for Academic Freedom Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department. Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials. Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement. Acquisition and Processing Information: The collection was processed by Matthew Friedman and David McCartney in 2002. Guide posted to the Internet 2002; revised December 2006. Photographs: |
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Scope and Contents
The papers of the Campaign for Academic Freedom are comprised of news clippings, texts of speeches/rallies, petitions, correspondence, and an extensive array of documents relating to all aspects of the Board of Regents, University of Iowa governance, and the Sexually Explicit Materials Policy.
The organization maintained records of almost every aspect of its work, including posters and logos disseminated throughout the campus. In addition to the printed documents, the collection contains a computer disk. For an additional note on that electronic record, please see the corresponding folder (Box 3).
The documents attest to perhaps one of the most passionate debates to arise on the University of Iowa campus in the 1990’s.
Organizational History
The Campaign for Academic Freedom was formed on October 11, 1993 on the eve of a Board of Regents hearing to enact the Sexually Explicit Materials Policy. The C.A.F. argued that the policy would curtail both academic freedom and free expression, but also create a hostile and discriminatory environment for gay and lesbian faculty, staff, and students.
The hearing and the newly enacted policy came in response to a controversy dating back to September, 1991. At that time a German language professor had screened a film, Taxi Zum Klo. Some students who had attended the screening became outraged at a particularly controversial, sexually explicit scene. The offended students felt that they should have been informed of such content in advance of the screening.
Once the Iowa State Board of Regents came to agree with those students and to enforce the new policy, the C.A.F. began a vigorous campaign of rallies and protests to counter the measure. The organization disbanded by June, 1995.
[M. Friedman, 2002]
Related Materials
Records of the GLBTAU (RG 02.03.18), University Archives
Other related materials at the University Archives include Code of Student Life booklets (RG 24.03) and student protest folders filed under Miscellaneous in the Subject Vertical Files (RG 01.15.05).
Box Contents List
Box 1:
News Clippings and Press Releases, November 1991-November 1992
----. February 1993-September 1993
----. October 1993
----. November 1993
----. December 1993-January 1994
----. February 1994
----. March 1994-April 1994
----. May 1994-September 1994
----. October 1994-November 1994
----. December 1994-April 1995
----. May 1995-June 1995
Newspaper Index, 1992
Petitions-‘Petition 1’, [ND]
----. ‘Petition 2’, [ND]
----. ‘Petition 3’, [ND]
----. 1994
----. [ND]
----. ‘Inqueery Conference’, [ND]
----. Alumni Statements, 1994-1995
Petition-related Materials, [ND]
Box 2:
Correspondence and email, 1991-1993
Correspondents include: Berenstein, Marvin S.; Collins, Thomas M.; Dorr,
Thomas C.; Lara, Michael; O’Neil, Robert M.; Painter, Kim; Rawlings III, Hunter R.; White, J. Patrick;
----. 1993-1994
Correspondents include: Aiken, Judith P.; Chomsky, Noam; Dorfman, Donald D.; Fallow, Jean S.; Farley, Cryss; Gillespie, Marcia Ann; Grady, David L.; Knoll, Erwin; O’Neil, Robert M.; Painter, Kim; Smetak, Jacqueline R.; Wilson, John K.
----. 1994
Correspondents include: Carroll, Joyce Armstrong; Donovan, Brian R.; Fallow, Jean S. (with Susan Wolfe); Hoffenberg, Peter; Jones, Phillip E.; Meyer, Nicholas; Rawlings III, Hunter R.; Reyes, Israel; Rhodes, Ann M.; Smetak, Jacqueline R.; Trifaro, Grace; Wilson, John K.
----. 1994-1995
Correspondents include: Carroll, Joyce Armstrong; Eckstein, Barbara; Fallow, Jean S. (solo and with Tom Lewis, Patrick Miller, Israel Reyes); Frick, Robert J.; Jones, Phillip E.; Lewis, Thomas E.; Reyes, Israel (with Tom Lewis); Verbicky, Annie
Speeches and Statements, 1991
----. 1992
----. 1993
----. 1994
----. 1995
Speeches-Reactions, 1994
Posters and Logos, [ND]
----. [ND]
Classroom Manuals, 1993
----. 1994
Classroom Manuals-Handbook for Teaching Assistants, [ND]
Essays, [ND]
----. [ND]
Journals and Newsletters, 1992-1994
----. [ND]
Memoranda, 1993
----. 1994-1995
Personal Notes/Informal Memoranda, [ND]
Agendas/Faculty Senate, 1993
Faculty Senate Memberships, [ND]
Schedules-Board of Regents, 1994
Sexually Explicit Materials Policy, 1993-1994
Police Reports, 1994
Proposals/Resolutions, 1993-1994
Plays-Special Presentations, 1994
Publicity, [ND]
Notices, 1993-1994
Timelines of Organizational History, 1995
Research Materials, [ND]
Photographs, [ND]
Box 3:
Electronic Records/Directory, 1994-1995
Cartoons/Newsletter Materials, [ND]
Fliers and Brochures, [ND]
----. [ND]