The Walter Metzger American Association of University Professors Records of Academic Freedom and Tenure

Walter P. Metzger (1922- 2016) was a historian and professor who led the American Association of University Professors towards better outlining and understanding the concept of Academic Freedom in higher education. After teaching and receiving his PhD from University of Iowa in 1950, he went on to continue his career at Columbia University in their history department, lecturing on 20th century U.S history. In 1955, Metzger co-authored the book “The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States” with Richard Hofstadter, which became the authoritative account of the history of academic freedom from colonial times until World War I. By the next year, in response to McCarthyism attack on academic freedom, General Secretary of the American Association of University Professors, Ralph F. Fuchs, invited Metzger to chair Committee H, a committee that centered on the History of the Association. Thus, a series of articles on AAUP history and the academic profession popularized the cultivation of academic freedom and tenure across the U.S. In 1958, he was appointed to Committee A, on Academic Freedom and Tenure, for which he continued his membership until retirement in 1985; yet, he still continued to act as a senior consultant until 2000. Within his 43 year tenure at Columbia University, he was the recipient of the 1990 Mark Van Doren Prize for teaching and was recognized as the official historian of AAUP, for which he dedicated his entire professional life to the organization with his contributions to Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and his research on the history of higher education and academic freedom.