Timothy L. Jackson, Ph.D., is Professor of Music Theory at the College of Music, and Distinguished University Research Professor at the University of North Texas. His primary interests center on the music of the eighteenth through twentieth centuries, Schenkerian theory, and politics and music. He has published on a wide range of topics, especially on theories of form and large-scale tonal structure, in a broad array of academic journals and books. He teaches courses on music theory and the politics of classical music and has actively directed the "Lost Composers" Project, which seeks to revive the music and theoretical work of composers eclipsed or lost as a result of the Nazi-era cultural policies and the Holocaust.
From 2004 until 2020, Prof. Jackson published The Journal of Schenkerian Studies until he was subjected to a massive cancellation attack for his defense of Austrian-Jewish music theorist Heinrich Schenker against charges of "white privilege" and "racism." When Music Theory was attacked in 2020 for its “deep-seated whiteness,” and Schenker was proscribed as “an ardent racist and German nationalist,” the cancel-culture mob attacked. Prof. Jackson tried to resolve the issue amicably, but to no avail. The University of North Texas administration capitulated and endorsed the persecution of Prof. Jackson. A lawsuit followed in Federal Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and in 2025 Prof. Jackson was awarded a settlement of $725,000 for damages and costs. In spite of his cancellation, Jackson continues teaching, publishing, and is currently working to re-establish the Journal of Schenkerian Studies.
For his courage in defending intellectual integrity and historical truth over ideological conformity, the Academic Freedom, the Columbia Academic Freedom Council is honored to present Prof. Timothy Jackson with the 2025 Academic Freedom Award.
