Harry Keyishian

==Life and career==

==Life and career==

Keyishian was born in The Bronx, New York, on April 9, 1932, to Armenian immigrants.{{cite web|title=Harry Keyishian, Lead Plaintiff in Academic Freedom Case, Dies at 93|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/us/harry-keyishian-dead.html|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=April 19, 2026|publisher=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2026}}{{cite book |last1=Locher |first1=Frances C. |title=Contemporary Authors |date=1976 |publisher=Gale Research |pages=297 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Contemporary_Authors/0O92UOK3BegC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Harry+Keyishian+1932&dq=Harry+Keyishian+1932&printsec=frontcover |access-date=10 April 2026}} He was raised in Queens, attending local public schools and [[Forest Hills High School (New York)|Forest Hills High School]]. He attended [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College]] from 1950–1954, receiving a bachelor’s degree in English literature, and then entered graduate school at [[New York University]]. As an undergraduate student at Queens College, City University of New York in 1952, Keyishian became part of a committee that protested the firing of Professor [[Vera Shlakman]] for refusing to testify if she had ever been a member of the Communist Party.{{Sfn|Heins|2013|p=1}} A member of the [[United States Navy Reserve|US Naval Reserve]], Keyishian served on active duty from September 1956 to July 1958 at the [[Naval Station Argentia|US Naval Air Station in Argentia, Newfoundland]] in the Information and Education Office and, for the last seven months, as Station Manager of VOUS-Argentia ([[Voice of America]]). While on active duty, he received his MA in English from NYU and taught courses in English for the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]] Overseas Program. After his discharge from the service, he taught part-time at NYU and [[City College of New York]] and, in the spring of 1961, taught full-time at the [[Bronx Community College]]. In September 1961, Keyishian joined the English Department at the University of Buffalo (renamed [[University at Buffalo|University at Buffalo, SUNY]] in 1962), from which he was terminated in February 1964 for refusing to sign a then-required loyalty oath that he was not a member of the Communist Party.{{Sfn|Heins|2013|p=222}}[[Ralph Maud|Maud, Ralph]] (1995). ''Minutes of the Charles Olson Society.'' Charles Olson Literary Society. p. 56.

Keyishian was born in The Bronx, New York, on April 9, 1932, to Armenian immigrants.{{cite web|title=Harry Keyishian, Lead Plaintiff in Academic Freedom Case, Dies at 93|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/us/harry-keyishian-dead.html|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=April 19, 2026|publisher=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2026}}{{cite book |last1=Locher |first1=Frances C. |title=Contemporary Authors |date=1976 |publisher=Gale Research |pages=297 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Contemporary_Authors/0O92UOK3BegC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Harry+Keyishian+1932&dq=Harry+Keyishian+1932&printsec=frontcover |access-date=10 April 2026}} He was raised in Queens, attending local public schools and [[Forest Hills High School (New York)|Forest Hills High School]]. He attended [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College]] from 1950–1954, receiving a bachelor’s degree in English literature, and then entered graduate school at [[New York University]]. As an undergraduate student at Queens College, City University of New York in 1952, Keyishian became part of a committee that protested the firing of Professor [[Vera Shlakman]] for refusing to testify if she had ever been a member of the Communist Party.{{Sfn|Heins|2013|p=1}} A member of the [[United States Navy Reserve|US Naval Reserve]], Keyishian served on active duty from September 1956 to July 1958 at the [[Naval Station Argentia|US Naval Air Station in Argentia, Newfoundland]], in the Information and Education Office and, for the last seven months, as Station Manager of VOUS-Argentia ([[Voice of America]]). While on active duty, he received his MA in English from NYU and taught courses in English for the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]] Overseas Program. After his discharge from the service, he taught part-time at NYU and [[City College of New York]] and, in the spring of 1961, taught full-time at the [[Bronx Community College]]. In September 1961, Keyishian joined the English Department at the University of Buffalo (renamed [[University at Buffalo|University at Buffalo, SUNY]] in 1962), from which he was terminated in February 1964 for refusing to sign a then-required loyalty oath that he was not a member of the Communist Party.{{Sfn|Heins|2013|p=222}}[[Ralph Maud|Maud, Ralph]] (1995). ''Minutes of the Charles Olson Society.'' Charles Olson Literary Society. p. 56.

He and four colleagues challenged the Feinberg Law of New York State, which, their suit alleged, too broadly defined subversive activities and which improperly limited political association. Buffalo attorney Richard Lipsitz (1920–2018) argued the case for the plaintiffs. The Feinberg Law was upheld by a three-judge panel in New York in 1966, but overturned by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1967. Declaring that the terms of the Feinberg Law were too vague and intrusive, the court described academic freedom as "a special concern of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom", which they characterized as "a marketplace of ideas". The decision was written by Justice [[William J. Brennan Jr.]] In 1987, the twentieth anniversary of the Keyishian decision, Harry Keyishian and fellow-litigant George Hochfield were interviewed by [[Bill Moyers]] in the [[PBS]] series ''In Search of the Constitution''. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the decision, the [[American Association of University Professors]] honored Keyishian on June 17, 2017 at its annual awards luncheon "for his courage, integrity, and unstinting commitment to academic freedom".

He and four colleagues challenged the Feinberg Law of New York State, which, their suit alleged, too broadly defined subversive activities and which improperly limited political association. Buffalo attorney Richard Lipsitz (1920–2018) argued the case for the plaintiffs. The Feinberg Law was upheld by a three-judge panel in New York in 1966, but overturned by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1967. Declaring that the terms of the Feinberg Law were too vague and intrusive, the court described academic freedom as "a special concern of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom", which they characterized as "a marketplace of ideas". The decision was written by Justice [[William J. Brennan Jr.]] In 1987, the twentieth anniversary of the Keyishian decision, Harry Keyishian and fellow-litigant George Hochfield were interviewed by [[Bill Moyers]] in the [[PBS]] series ''In Search of the Constitution''. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the decision, the [[American Association of University Professors]] honored Keyishian on June 17, 2017 at its annual awards luncheon "for his courage, integrity, and unstinting commitment to academic freedom".