Dear President Harter,
I should like to include myself among those who have come to the defense of Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe. If the freedom to teach is not as important as the freedom to learn, then there is little hope for the university as a place of dialogue and debate, where serious issues may be considered and scholarship pursued.
These issues of Lehrfreit and Lernfreiheit were debated in 18th- and 19th-century German universities and form an important part of the German liberal tradition which Dr. Hoppe represents. I add only that Professor Hoppe’s work enjoys international recognition, recognition reflected by his overseas speaking engagements and the many translations of his work into languages other than English or German. He is an original and pioneering scholar, while at the same time he continues and extends the work of the late Murray N. Rothbard, who also taught at UNLV.
Joseph R. Stromberg Holder, JoAnn B. Rothbard Chair in History, Ludwig von Mises Institute Auburn, Alabama
