學術自由始終被視做美國高等教育的基石，但從一個歷史面向觀察，卻可以看到一幅迥然不同的發展情況。學術自由不僅是一個歷時尚淺的觀念，更同時是一個非常脆弱的觀念。整個20世紀，教師專業自主權不斷地受到兩股力量的威脅：一是學院資本主義，另一則是國家安全；但自從911攻擊事件發生之後，國家安全對於學術自由的威脅似乎更凌駕於學院資本主義之上。這使得很多論者開始擔心，1950年代麥卡錫主義將會重現於校園之中。究竟這個夢魘是否會成真？這個問題也正是本文致力關注的焦點。基此，本文將先釐清現今學術自由觀念的起源、定義與制度性保障機制，然後再透過晚近侵害學術自由爭議個案的回顧，進一步剖析各類反恐措施和高漲愛國主義對於美國學術自由的潛在威脅。本文將揭示，儘管美國各界對於反恐戰爭的看法不一，但基本上，大多數的學界人士皆無法否認國家安全將成為未來影響學術自由的重要力量。

Academic freedom is always alleged as the cornerstone of American higher education. However, from the perspective of history, things look different. Academic freedom is not only a relatively new, but also a fragile notion. Throughout the 20th century, professional autonomy was threatened by two forces, academic capitalism and national security. Since September 11, 2001, national security, rather than academic capitalism, has actually become more and more aggressive to this autonomy. As a result, it seems like the McCarthyism of the 1950s is coming back into campus again. Will this nightmare come true? This is what this article is going to focus on. Firstly, we will delineate the origin, definition and institutional mechanism of academic freedom. Then we will turn to provide an overview of recent examples of offenses against academic freedom and to explore its relation to anti-terror campaign and rising patriotism. As we can see, although opinions regarding anti-terrorism campaign may vary, many in the academia would agree that academic freedom has become inextricably intertwined with national security.