A
general expression of individual academic freedom is included in the
"1940 Statement Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" by the
American Association of University Professors. This Statement by the
AAUP has no legal effect, but the AAUP publicly censures colleges and
universities that they believe have violated academic freedom.
However,
all major colleges and universities have adopted this Statement, or a
variation of this Statement, which is contained in the faculty policy
manual of each college or university, and is incorporated by reference
in the employment contract between the university and each individual
faculty member.
In many cases, individual
academic freedom is simply part of academic
tradition – the routine way that faculty committees, department
chairmen, and deans operate when they make judgments about who to hire,
who to promote, who gets tenure, who gets larger salary increases, and
who gets their employment terminated.
ASIDE: In my ten years as a
professor, the most egregious violations of
academic freedom that I saw were committed by department chairmen who
had spent all of their previous professional career as an employee of
either industry or a government laboratory: these chairmen had neither
understanding nor respect for academic freedom, they saw professors as
mere employees who they rigidly managed.
Individual academic freedom is a
relationship between professors and the university administration.
This essay is not the place to
discuss opinions of courts in numerous
cases brought by professors...However, mention of a few cases will show
that, in practice, individual academic freedom is illusory.
In conclusion, academic freedom
in the USA is a matter of internal
policy at colleges and universities. Academic freedom in the USA is not
a constitutional right belonging to professors. Academic
freedom can be
a contract right granted to professors by the administration of a
college or university, but contract rights are privately negotiated,
not imposed by the Constitution.
- Personal
Voices: The End of Academic Freedom? "House Resolution 3077
passed last fall. It included a provision to
establish an advisory board to monitor campus international studies
centers in order to ensure that they advance the national interest." (Alternet article, April 15, 2004)
Message from CAUT (Canadian Association of
University Teachers) president, Victor Catano, on Academic Freedsom and
The Patriot Act. Founded in 1951, CAUT is the national voice for
academic staff. Today, representing 35,000 teachers, librarians,
researchers and other academic professionals, CAUT is an outspoken
defender of academic freedom and works actively in the public interest
to improve the quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in
Canada.
- Another
take on Academic Freedom: an analysis from the perspective of a
denominational college. Progressive Calvinism is against academic
freedom at Calvin College,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, the denominational college of the Christian
Reformed Church.
SAF,
a conservative "student" group contesting traditionaand AAUP supported
definitions of academic freedom, defines itself as a clearing house and
communications center for a national coalition of student organizations
whose goal is to end the "political abuse of the university" and to
"restore integrity to the academic mission as a disinterested pursuit
of knowledge." Currently, there are 135 SAF chapters at universities
across the US - so far, none in NM.
- SAF commentary
on the AAUP Statement on the Academic Bills of Rights
