Defending Academic FreedomNo
one who reads a daily newspaper can be
unaware of the concerted attacks on academic freedom that are taking
place in
several states. Courts are ruling -- as
they have almost always ruled -- that academic freedom belongs to the
institution (i.e., to the administration) and not to the faculty, and
it is far
from clear that faculty handbooks are legally binding documents. (See the AAUP's
Guide on Faculty Handbooks for
state-by-state information.) Under these
circumstances, the most certain
legal protection for faculty academic freedom is a collective
bargaining
agreement that brings contract law -- not constitutional law -- to bear
on the
issue. At
the University of Delaware, we are fortunate
to have a cutting-edge academic freedom policy in our 2010-13
collective
bargaining agreement. This policy,
developed in a collegial and mutually supportive interaction between
the
faculty and the administration, states, Academic
freedom is the freedom to
teach, both in and outside the classroom, to conduct research
and other scholarly or creative activities, and
to publish or otherwise disseminate the
results. Academic freedom also
encompasses the freedom to address any matter of institutional
policy or action whether or not as a member of
any agency of institutional governance.
Faculty have the freedom to address the larger community with regard to
any social, political, economic, or other
interest. The freedoms enumerated in this
policy apply without
institutional discipline or restraint save for statements or actions
that demonstrate disciplinary incompetence
or that violate the University’s Professional Ethics
Statement (as edited on 2/12/99) or the University’s standards
pertaining to disruptive behavior (as
adopted on 6/1/70).
Alterations to these statements made subsequent
to the signing of this Agreement do not affect the freedoms enumerated
in this Article unless ratified by the
UD-AAUP. Academic responsibility implies the faithful performance of professional duties and obligations,
the
recognition of the demands of the scholarly
enterprise, and the candor to make it clear that, when one is speaking
as a citizen on matters of public
interest, one is not speaking for the institution. To
read more about the development of the UD
academic-freedom policy, which has become a national model, see
"Defending Academic Freedom in the Age of Garcetti," published
in Academe in
January/February 2011. Further
information on the current status of academic freedom nationwide
appears on the website of the
national AAUP. |