Donald Downs

Donald Alexander Downs (born December 2, 1948) is an American political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison known for his work on the First Amendment.^[1]

Downs received his Ph.D. from the University of California - Berkeley and his B.A. from Cornell University. He has taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Notre Dame and is currently Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism at UW-Madison and a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. Downs has published many scholarly articles and books on the politics underlying central controversies in free speech, with a particular interest in recent years in academic freedom.

Downs is a co-founder of the Committee for Academic Freedom and Rights (CAFAR), and often speaks publicly in defense of academic freedom both at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and beyond.

In 2010 Downs was named the Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science at UW-Madison. He is also an affiliate professor of Law and Journalism at the University.

In 2012, Downs' new book (co-authored by Ilia Murtazashvili) was published, entitled Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students (Cambridge University Press). The book explores the historical and present relationship between the military and higher education, and argues that an appropriate presence of the military in the form of ROTC, military history courses, and strategic security studies expands the liberal and civic education of all students, and broadens the university's intellectual horizon.

Downs is a co-founder and present director of the Wisconsin Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy. The Center is dedicated to the understanding and critical evaluation of the central principles, policies, and practices of free societies, and to promoting genuine intellectual diversity on campus.

Downs is the faculty advisor of the Alexander Hamilton Society student chapter at UW-Madison. The Hamilton Society is a national student organization dedicated to discussing and debating important foreign policy and national security issues, and with thinking about the ways in which America can play a constructive role in international affairs.

Downs is also a partner and board member of In the Market Media LLC, an innovative Phoenix based media company that creates interactive software on iPads for use in bars, restaurants, and hotels.

Downs is also a noted Oakland Raiders fan. He is known to speak freely on this topic. Downs has stated that he attended Wayland Academy at the same time as wrestler Ric Flair. He has the uncanny ability to name the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL Champion (as well as runner up) for every year since each league's inception, from memory.

He serves as a non-voting adviser on the Board of Directors of The Badger Herald, a student newspaper at UW-Madison.

Key Scholarly Works

• Nazis in Skokie: Freedom, Community and the First Amendment
• The New Politics of Pornography
• More than Victims: Battered Women, the Syndrome Society, and the Law
• Cornell `69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University
• Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus
• "Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students"

References