Education Law
Mar. 10, 2023
The University of California’s loyalty oath fight
The major concern was that the oath threatened tenure, generally defined as a right to continued employment during good behavior and efficient service; tenure, in turn, was seen as the basis of academic freedom, as it allowed professors to teach and research new or unpopular topics without losing their jobs.
John S. Caragozian
Email: caragozian@gmail.com
John is a Los Angeles-based lawyer and sits on the Board of the California Supreme Court Historical Society. He welcomes ideas for future monthly columns on California's legal history at caragozian@gmail.com.
Since its 1868 founding, the University of California has driven our state's economic, intellectual, and cultural development. Indeed, as exemplified by its 60-plus Nobel Prizes, the UC has achieved worldwide preeminence.
From 1949 through 1952, however, conflict over a UC loyalty oath threatened the University's foundations.
By 1949, a Red Scare swept the United States. Communist Russia tightened its grip on Ea...
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