Statement on Academic Freedom
Preamble
Citing surveys that “increasingly reveal ideological imbalance in the
classroom, evidence of politicization, and public concern over these
issues,”(1) groups such as Students for Academic Freedom and the American
Council of Trustees and Alumni have sponsored legislative initiatives in
Congress and in at least 24 state legislatures to “break the liberal hold on
academia”(2) by redressing the “marked political imbalance among college
faculty.”(3) In essence these initiatives seek to promote “intellectual
diversity”(4) among college faculty by requiring institutions of higher
education to maintain a proper balance between faculty who are politically
conservative and politically liberal.
In response to these initiatives, the American
Academy’s Initiative on Higher Education convened a study group to evaluate
such legislation in light of basic principles of academic freedom. These
principles hold that faculty should be judged on the professional merit of
their work and not on their political affiliation or outlook. The study group
has drafted a statement of basic principles. It hopes that the adoption of this
statement by the Academy and other academic institutions, professional
associations, and learned societies will help to counter legislative
initiatives that threaten to undermine academic freedom on campuses. The
Academy applauds all leaders in higher education who are willing to speak out
with their boards, their faculty, their students, and their alumni wherever and
whenever principles of academic freedom are threatened, and it has drafted this
Statement of Principles in the expectation that that it might be useful for
this purpose.
Statement of Principles
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It is a clear violation of academic freedom to evaluate faculty or students
based upon their political beliefs or affiliations.(5)
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The principle of academic freedom is at the very core of American higher
education. It is the indispensable condition for colleges and universities that
seek to expand the domain of knowledge. Academic freedom enables scholars,
researchers, teachers, and students to pursue their curiosity in whatever
direction it leads them. Academic freedom promotes scholarly competence and
achievement; it establishes open intellectual inquiry; and it has produced the
extraordinary insights and discoveries that are the hallmark of American higher
education. Academic freedom fosters scholarly and scientific innovation by
protecting those who challenge orthodoxies. It is the responsibility of college
and university trustees, administrators, faculty, and students to respect,
preserve, protect, and defend academic freedom.
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Academic freedom requires, among other things, that individual faculty be
evaluated by experts in their field based upon the quality of their
scholarship, teaching, and institutional contributions. Academic freedom
requires that this evaluation reflect both rigorous professional standards and
the profound value of open intellectual inquiry.
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The application of professional disciplinary standards by experts in the field
allows ample room for intellectual debate within the academy; it is compatible
with the robust expression of different perspectives. Although colleges and
universities may properly seek a faculty of widely varying views, they may not
pursue this goal by considering political beliefs or affiliations.
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In the event that there is reason to believe that discrimination among faculty
on the basis of their political beliefs or affiliations has occurred, the
proper remedy is through procedures established by the institution for the
protection of academic freedom. It is the responsibility of colleges and
universities to have in place appropriate procedures to protect and preserve
academic freedom, and it is the responsibility of administrators and faculty to
implement these procedures in a fair and responsible manner.
Notes
(1) Language introduced into state legislation in 2007: Montana House Joint
Resolution No. 55, http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2007/billhtml/HB0525.htm and
Georgia House Bill 154,
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hb154.htm.
(2) Jeff Emanuel, “Legislating Intellectual Diversity at Colleges Is a Slippery
Slope,” Athens Banner-Herald, March 8, 2007.
(3) American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Intellectual Diversity: Time for
Action (2005), 2.
(4) Ibid.,1.
(5) For secular colleges and universities, it would also be a clear violation
of academic freedom to evaluate faculty or students upon their religious
beliefs or affiliations. This principle may not apply, however, to colleges and
universities with overtly theological missions.
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