The main purpose of university autonomy has been the protection of academic freedom. However, the autonomy of universities has not been sufficient for protecting it. At least the importance of academic freedom, understood in its philosophical sense (as a freedom for love of wisdom, for pursuing the truth – which is, according to Kant – a result of reason’s free judgement, and, as such, the central interest of science and of the whole university) has diminished. Moreover, when university autonomy is nothing more than the autonomy of the university leaders, the autonomy of a university can jeopardize even the freedom that the university professors have as citizens: the freedom not to be subjected to arbitrary or enormous authority of an individual or a group of people. When the employment of university professors is entirely dependent on university leaders, many professors are ready to voluntarily sacrifice their freedom and to subject themselves to the will of the university leaders. What remains to them in such a case is - even if they fully enjoy academic freedom - the freedom which Viroli calls the "freedom" of slaves whose two most important distinctive signs are fear and servility.