Nearly a year after controversy began over a class taught by tenured sociology professor Patti Adler, tensions ran high at a campus discussion on academic freedom.

Roughly 40 faculty members, students, staff and community members met Wednesday afternoon to talk about academic freedom, or "the freedom to inquire, discover, publish and teach truth as the faculty member sees it, subject to no control or authority save the control and authority of the rational methods by which truth is established," according to the laws of CU's Board of Regents.

The panel was the first in a series of discussions about campus social climate issues, which was planned last spring following concerns about Adler's class "Deviance in U.S. Society."

Central to that controversy was a lecture in which undergraduate teaching assistants portrayed various types of prostitutes in front of a large student audience.

Adler claimed that she was pushed toward retirement after administrators deemed the lecture a risk to the university. She was suspended from teaching the class, but later reinstated for the spring semester. She has since retired.

After hearing that the Office of Discrimination and Harassment looked into Adler's prostitution lecture, faculty members worried they could be investigated for materials presented or discussed in class, which many felt was a violation of academic freedom.

Campus officials have maintained that concerns were not about the content of the lecture, but the manner in which it was presented. Administrators claimed that students were coerced into participating in the prostitution lecture.

'Cross that line'

Though Adler was not mentioned by name at Wednesday's discussion, several audience members and panelists referenced her situation.

Much of the conversation centered on the balance between student safety and academic freedom, which protects the rights of the faculty to teach and research difficult topics, such as religion, sexuality, politics and others.

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Tensions high at CU-Boulder discussion on academic freedom