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Faculty Handbook
Appendix I—Academic Freedom and Responsibility
Statement on Academic Freedom and Responsibility
Academic freedom is the right of individuals to conduct those activities which constitute their particular roles in the academic community: to study, to investigate, to discuss, to teach, to publish and to administer. Each faculty member is entitled to freedom in the classroom, in discussing the subject being taught, but the faculty member must take care to present various scholarly views associated with the subject being taught and should be judicious in the use of controversial material, introducing only that which has clear relationship to the subject. The teacher is entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results of this research, subject to the adequate performance of the teacher’s other academic duties.
The faculty member is, of course, also a citizen of this nation, state and community; and the faculty member possesses, in addition to academic freedom, the constitutional freedom which all citizens enjoy equally under the law. When a member of the academic community speaks or writes as a citizen, that member should be free from institutional censorship or discipline and must expect to be treated by the general public as they customarily treat any other citizen. The faculty member should remember that the public may judge the profession and the institution by the faculty member’s words and actions. Therefore, all faculty members should strive to be accurate, they should exercise appropriate restraint, they should show respect for the opinion of others and they should indicate that they are not institutional spokespersons.
Academic freedom is not absolute but is recognized and protected in order that members of the academic community can perform their particular roles. If it is to endure, it must be accompanied by an equally demanding concept of academic responsibility. Each member of the academic community must operate under self-imposed restraints which make possible civilized life: protection of the privilege of dissent, including dissent from dissent and the concomitant condemnation of exercising one’s self-defined rights at the cost of those rights which belong to all. In the solution of certain difficult problems, all members of the academic community must be aware of their responsibility to society, to the institution and to each other, and must recognize that at times the interests of each may vary and will have to be reconciled.
The primary responsibility of the teaching faculty member is effective teaching. In order to meet this responsibility, the faculty member should prepare for and meet assignments, confer with and advise students, evaluate fairly and report promptly student achievement and participate in group deliberations which contribute to the growth and development of students and the institution. Faculty members also have the responsibility to accept those reasonable duties assigned to them within their fields of competency, whether curricular or co-curricular. In addition, all members of the academic community have the responsibility to attempt, honestly and in good faith, to preserve and defend the institution and the goals it espouses, without restricting the right to advocate change.