Senate of
PROPOSAL
30-95
REVISION OF PROPOSAL 17-94,
POLICY ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
It is recommended by the University Senate that the
following text replace the existing policy statement on academic freedom in the
Board of Control Policy Manual and the Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty
Handbook.
The purpose of this statement is to promote public
understanding and support of academic freedom and tenure and agreement upon
procedures to assure them in colleges and universities. Institutions of higher
education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of
either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good
depends upon the free search for truth and its free
exposition.
Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and
applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the
advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for
the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student in
freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.
[1]
a. Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research
and in the publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of
their other academic duties; but research for pecuniary return should be based
upon an understanding with the authorities of the
institution.
b. Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom
in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into
their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject [2].
Limitations of academic freedom because of religious or other aims of the
institution should be clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.
[3]
c. College and university teachers are citizens,
members of a learned profession, and officers of an educational
institution. When they 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 scholars and educational officers,
they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their
institution by their utterances. Hence they 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 are not
speaking for the institution. [4]
This policy statement is drawn from the 1940
Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, with 1970 Interpretive
Comments, developed by the American Association of University
Professors.
The numerical references in brackets contained within
the text connect it to the 1970 interpretive comments. These comments, while not
included in the Michigan Technological University Policy Statement on Academic
Freedom, are understood to be an essential part of the statement. They provide
the primary guidance in understanding the application of the basic statement on
Academic Freedom. The interpretive comments are to be found as an appendix to
the policy statement (Available by
Request from the Senate Office).
Approved by the Senate: 3 May
1995
Senate Approved Provost Recommended Changes: 31
January 1998
Transmitted to the Administration: 4 February
1998