The Allegheny protest is not Herzfeld's first encounter with what he calls issues of academic freedom.
In 1997, Herzfeld "was a bit player" And in 1996, Herzfeld resigned from theeditorial board of the Cambridge University Pressover the publisher's decision not to print a bookby Greek scholar Anastasia Karakasidou on thesubject of Macedonian statehood. Along with Stephen Gudeman, a professor ofanthropology at the University of Minnesota,Herzfeld also wrote the "Internet Manifesto,"which called for "a moratorium on the reviewing ofbooks for Cambridge University Press." Herzfeld's colleagues call him "a champion ofsocial justice in the academy" and say he iscommitted to "standing by the fundamental academicprinciples." Yet for his part, Herzfeld says he believes itis his duty to stand up for his fellowacademicians. "Those of us who have the kind of securityHarvard provides also have a moral obligation tohelp our peers who are more brutally exposed tomarket forces," he says. Herzfeld calls the Ulin case a result of"ethical and scholarly inactivity in equal parts." "It's not about Robert Ulin. It's not aboutme," he says. "It's a matter of principle.