John K. Wilson, founder of the Web site College Freedom and author of such books as Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies, coming in November, has long been leery of what he sees as efforts to stifle academic thought in the name of countering political correctness. Now he takes a look at the AAUP’s statement on “Freedom in the Classroom,” released today. On the whole he praises it, but he does have a few quibbles.

He agrees that in most cases, professors should avoid condemning what students say. But, he adds, “there might be times when a student says something so morally repugnant that a professor might be justified in strongly condemning it. To say otherwise demands moral relativism of professors.”

Then there’s the issue of meandering off into “persistent irrelevance.” Avoid it, particularly when interjecting irrelevant political statements into class, says the AAUP. Wilson responds, “A professor should have the latitude to make some irrelevant comments in class, whether they are about politics or football or gardening.”

But mostly he’s concerned about what happens to a professor who violates the AAUP’s standards. The association doesn’t say enough about that, Wilson argues. Concerned about the chilling effect of bringing professors up on disciplinary charges, he says that “nearly all of the time, the proper way for an administration to deal with student complaints about a professor’s comments is by education, not punishment.”