The mission of the organization is to challenge university administrations and provide legal help to professors who face disciplinary action over controversial speech or activities.

[1] It was founded by Keith Whittington, Cornel West, Robert George, Jeannie Suk Gersen, and Nadine Strossen.

It challenges university administrations and external entities on behalf of the academicians to support academic freedom and civil debate on a range of issues.

[6] In March 2022, the Academic Freedom Alliance sent a letter to the administration of Princeton University calling on it to remove criticism of a faculty member's speech from the webpage of the Carl Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding.

"[8] Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber declined to remove the controversial comment from the webpage of Carl Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding.