Policy Author:
Faculty Senate
Responsible Office – Department:
Faculty Senate
Effective Date of Policy:
Fall, 2022
Narrative
Found in Faculty Handbook.
XIV. ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Every faculty member is entitled to freedom of research and publication, and freedom of classroom discussion in accordance with the AAUP Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom.
Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition.
Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.
Faculty members are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic duties; but research for pecuniary return should be based upon an understanding with the authorities of the institution.
Faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.
Faculty members are citizens, members of a learned profession, and representatives of the University. When faculty members speak or write as citizens, they shall be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As scholars and educational officers, faculty members should remember that the public may judge their profession and the University by their utterances. Hence, they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the University (see also Article VIII.C Extramural Utterances).