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