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Donald Alexander Downs is an American political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison known for his work on the First Amendment.
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, 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 was published, entitled Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students. 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.
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