Section 2: Faculty Rights and Responsibilities

2.2 Rights

2.2.1 Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Free Speech

Academic freedom is essential to fulfill the ultimate objectives of an educational university/college – the free search for and exposition of truth – and applies to participation in shared governance as well as teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth, and academic freedom in teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. Freedom in shared governance is fundamental to the development and maintenance of effective academic policies, national and regional accreditation, and shared responsibility for the redelivery of educational products and services to students.

Implicit in the principle of academic freedom are the corollary responsibilities of the faculty who enjoy that freedom. Incompetence, indolence, intellectual dishonesty, failure to carry out assigned duties, serious moral dereliction, arbitrary and capricious disregard of standards of professional conduct as well as other grounds as set forth in applicable law or policy may constitute adequate cause for dismissal or other disciplinary sanctions against faculty members.

The right to academic freedom imposes upon the faculty an equal obligation to take appropriate professional action against faculty members who are unable or unwilling to discharge their professional responsibilities. The faculty member has an obligation to participate in tenure and promotion review of colleagues as specified in university policy. Thus, academic freedom and academic responsibility are interdependent, and academic tenure is adopted as a means to protect the former while promoting the latter. While academic tenure is essential for the protection of academic freedom, all faculty members, tenured or non-tenured, have an equal right to academic freedom and bear the same academic responsibilities implicit in that freedom.

University policy recognizes the principle of academic freedom and accordingly states:

• Faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing materials relevant to the course.
  
  
• Faculty members are entitled to freedom in research and in the publication of the results, subject to adequate performance of their other academic duties; but all research, including research for pecuniary gain, must be performed in an ethical manner and in compliance with all applicable policies and standards in the field and must be based upon an understanding with the authorities of the university.
  
  
• Faculty members are citizens, members of a learned profession, and officers of an educational institution. Academic freedom includes the freedom to speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of public concern, as well as on matters related to professional duties, and on matters involving the academic and administrative functioning of the educational institution. When faculty members speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As persons of learning and as educational officers, they should remember that the public may judge the profession and the university by their utterances. Hence, faculty members should at all times strive to be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they do not speak for the university.

2.2.2 Appeal

Faculty members have certain rights of appeal and are entitled to fair, impartial, honest, and timely resolutions of problems that may arise in relation to employment. In all cases, faculty members are entitled to notice regarding grounds on which administrative action has been taken. Depending on the subject matter(s), appeals are classified as a general appeal, tenure and promotion appeal, or a special appeal.