Edward Said delivered this Address at the AUC Commencement in 1999, on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate degree. The academic space, he believes, is founded on freedom, which he commends in all its forms: opposing all restrictions and violation of that consecrated space. He expresses his belief that the University should be neither a political nor a government institution. It is precisely the role of the contemporary academy, he asserts, to keep open the gap between itself and the institutions of society. Moving away from the image of a University where the academic professional and the public authority correspond to the sultan and potentate, Said believes in an alternative model where the academic world is a ceaseless quest for principles and knowledge, liberation, and finally justice. **********
