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"Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth," the American Association of University Professors declared in 1925. In the decades since, the academic freedom enjoyed by American professors has unarguably contributed to the success of American universities -- the U.S. boasts seven of the world's ten best universities ranked by the Times of London in 2010. But while academic freedom is laudable, professors like the those listed below have found themselves under attack for their controversial ideas and their activities in and out of the classroom.

7 Most Controversial Professors in America

1. Noam Chomsky is renowned as an M.I.T. professor of linguistics and a sharp critic of the American government. He declared, "If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged." While this statement indicts presidents from both parties, Chomsky's own viewpoint is (very) left of center. This point was driven home when the socialist, anti-American Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez praised Chomsky in a 2006 speech at the U.N.

2. Bernardine Dohrn was a leader of the Weathermen, who instigated violent riots in Chicago in 1969 to protest the Vietnam War. She notoriously stated, "The Weathermen dig Charles Manson." After becoming one of the F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted, she spent a decade as a fugitive. Now she is a professor of law at Northwestern University.

3. Peter Duesberg is admired by his students at U.C.-Berkeley, but a 2008 Discover profile points out that these undergrads seem unaware of his reputation as an "AIDS denier." Since 1986, he has been espousing a theory that AIDS is caused by drug use rather than the HIV virus. He continues to anger colleagues with statements like, "99 percent of AIDS researchers study a virus that does not cause AIDS."

4. Anita Hill gave historic testimony during Clarence Thomas's 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, during which she accused him of sexually harassing her. "Here is a person who is in charge of protecting rights of women . . . and he is using his power for personal gain for one thing. And he did it in a very ugly and intimidating way," she said at the time. The controversy was recently revisited after Judge Thomas's wife, seeking an apology, called Hill's office at Brandeis University, where she is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies. Thomas has never backed down from her claims.

5. Jonathan Katz, a physics professor at Washington University, was one of five scientists enlisted by the White House to spearhead cleanup efforts after the BP oil spill. But he was removed from the team after his views of homosexuality and climate change were revealed. "I am a homophobe, and proud," he wrote in one essay, while in another he declared, "global warming is probably good for humanity." A final twist: Katz's 22-year-old son is gay, and came out in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch column in October.

6. Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics at Princeton, and has been a polarizing figure since the 1975 publication of his book Animal Liberation, in which he argued that humans are guilty of "speciesism," treating animals with morally unjustifiable cruelty because we think ourselves superior to them. Though the idea of "animal rights" has become less radical since 1975, Singer continues to provoke outrage. His 2001 article "Heavy Petting" caused an outcry due to its suggestion that we rethink taboos regarding human-animal sexual relations.

7. John Yoo is another controversial figure at Berkeley, where he is a professor of law. Working for the Justice Department after 9/11, he authored a document now known as the "torture memo," paving the way for interrogation techniques like waterboarding. Defending his views, he has said, "I don't see how it can be reasonable to have an absolute prohibition on torture."