In order to have academic freedom, don't you have to be, like, an academic?

YOU ARE VISITING THE OLD MALKIN(S)WATCH. THAT'S FANTASTIC. PLEASE VISIT THE NEW MALKIN(S)WATCH WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE.

Michelle on University of Colorado professors defending Ward Churchill:

Churchill's defenders frame this as an issue of academic freedom, but I wonder how many of these same faculty members would be singing the virtues of academic freedom if Churchill had articulated a controversial right-wing view rather than a controversial left-wing view. Would they be rallying to his support, for example, if he were under fire for defending Japanese internment, supporting enforcement of immigration laws, or opposing affirmative action?

Who could she possibly be talking about?

Update: Eric Muller's take on this is why he is an academic and I'm not:

Which media figure says that calling 9/11 a justified attack on deserving "little Eichmanns" is analogous to defending the Japanese American internment of World War II?

...But she's right, you know!

Ka-POW!

(Makes my focus on the academic freedom issue seem silly, doesn't it?)