The Bertrand Russell Case

In 1940, Bertrand Russell was hired by the City College of New York to teach classes on logic, mathematics, and metaphysics of science.

This appointment was made controversial by William Thomas Manning, the Episcopal Bishop of New York City, who argued that due to Bertrand Russell's writings against religion and approval of sexual acts disapproved of by traditional Christian teachings, he should not be instated as a professor.

[1] Following Manning's denunciation, a group of religious individuals lobbied New York City government institutions to reject Bertrand Russell's position as professor.

[3] Thirdly, McGeehan concluded that Russell held immoral views regarding sexuality on the basis of four of his popular and non-philosophic books (On Education, What I Believe, Education and the Modern World, and Marriage and Morals), and that his opinions regarding sexual relations between college-aged students amounted to an endorsement of abduction, rendering him morally unfit to teach philosophy and an advocate of lawlessness.

[7] When Russell published An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth, the lectures he gave at Harvard that fall, he added "Judicially pronounced unworthy to be Professor of Philosophy at the College of the City of New York" to the listing of distinctions and academic honors on the title page in the British version.

[3] Additionally, many of the book's authors discuss at length the necessity for academic disciplines to feature counter-cultural thinkers, as they are skeptical of a framework of thought enforced by religious or political individuals.