Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Due Process

Report of a Special Committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System

This report details the findings of the special committee appointed by the AAUP to investigate the state of academic freedom and political interference in Florida, focusing on the threats to higher education and the foundational principles of shared governance that have intensified under the DeSantis regime. Following a preliminary report released in May 2023, this final report reaffirms the "chilling effect on academic freedom" outlined in the preliminary report and expands on how AAUP-supported principles and standards are implicated.

Academic Freedom and Outside Speakers

This statement concerns academic freedom and outside speakers at colleges and universities. Respecting faculty and student choices of invited outside speakers is part of academic freedom and is a best practice that restrains the hands of politically zealous or overly cautious college and university administrators. At the same time, we note that this is only one aspect of the “right to hear” within the broader meaning of academic freedom, where “the protection of faculty rights based on disciplinary competence” remains essential to the furtherance of critical thinking and scientific inquiry.

Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism

This statement by the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure addresses recent partisan efforts in state legislatures to restrict teaching that critically examines the history and policies of the state of Israel and the United States. The statement notes that conservative politicians have justified restrictive legislation on these two topics under the guise of protecting students from harm and urges the defeat of these legislative initiatives and others of their kind in order to protect the academic freedom that is vital to the preservation of democracy. 

 

In Defense of Knowledge and Higher Education

This statement—adopted by the AAUP's Council and endorsed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, PEN America, and other organizations—advances an impassioned argument for the importance of expert knowledge and the institutions of higher education that produce and transmit it. Addressing an ongoing movement in the United States to attack the disciplines and institutions of higher education, the statement defends the critical role these institutions perform in producing the knowledge that sustains American democracy, especially in this moment of intense global instability.

National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom

The Trump administration’s alarming hostility to science has exacerbated already troubling threats to academic freedom in the physical and natural sciences in two different areas. In the area of international scientific exchange, Chinese or Chinese American scientists have been targeted and charged with espionage. The second area, the field of climate science, has been subjected to vicious attempts to discredit its validity, which have intensified significantly since Donald Trump took office.

The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX

This report, released for comment in March 2016 and issued in its final version in June 2016, evaluates the history and current uses of Title IX and identifies tensions between current interpretations of Title IX and the academic freedom essential for campus life to thrive. The report makes recommendations for how best to address the problem of campus sexual assault and harassment while also protecting academic freedom, free speech, and due process.

On Trigger Warnings

A current threat to academic freedom in the classroom comes from a demand that teachers provide warnings in advance if assigned material contains anything that might trigger difficult emotional responses for students.

On Partnerships with Foreign Governments: The Case of Confucius Institutes

Allowing any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities. Confucius Institutes function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore these principles.

Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications

This revised report brings up to date and expands upon the Association’s 2004 report on the same topic, while affirming the earlier report’s basic principles. Academic freedom, free inquiry, and freedom of expression within the academic community may be limited to no greater extent in electronic format than they are in print, save for the most unusual situation where the very nature of the medium itself might warrant unusual restrictions,

Defending the Freedom to Innovate: Faculty Intellectual Property Rights After Stanford v. Roche

This report is being issued in the midst of fundamental changes in the character of faculty rights and academic freedom. The purpose of the report is to put the dialog on intellectual property on a new foundation, one that leads to a principle-based restoration of faculty leadership in setting policy in this increasingly important area of university activity. Administration efforts to control the fruits of faculty scholarship augur a sea change in faculty employment conditions, one too often imposed without negotiation or consent.
 

Regulation of Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board

Local institutional review boards, which make decisions about the permissibility of research, often have no special competence; the AAUP recommends improvements. Read the report.

The Role of the Faculty in Conditions of Financial Exigency

Recent years have witnessed massive closings of academic programs that are basic to a college or university’s curriculum, with a resulting erosion in the number and the authority of the tenured faculty.  The AAUP responded last month when its Council adopted as official policy the final text of a major report, The Role of the Faculty in Conditions of Financial Exigency.  

Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Librarians

Statement arguing that because the scope and character of library resources should be taken into account in such important academic decisions as curricular planning and faculty appointments, librarians should have a voice in the development of the institution’s educational policy

Recommended Principles to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships

This book-length report offers general advice on basic faculty intellectual property rights; mechanisms to ensure academic freedom in publishing; handling faculty and administrator conflicts of interest; and grievance procedures for faculty members, academic professionals, and students. An appendix provides language appropriate for inclusion in faculty handbooks and collective bargaining agreements.

Tenure and Teaching-Intensive Appointments

Recommendations on stabilizing the faculty infrastructure by converting contingent faculty positions to the tenure track.

Protecting an Independent Faculty Voice: Academic Freedom after Garcetti v. Ceballos

Report examining the potential impact on academic governance of the Supreme Court Garcetti v. Ceballos decision. It recommends actions to be taken in both public and private colleges and universities to preserve academic freedom in governance even in the face of judicial hostility or indifference.

On Academic Boycotts

A report discussing academic boycotts and relevant AAUP policies, and making recommendations.

The Use and Abuse of Faculty Suspensions

Report analyzing AAUP policy on the suspension of faculty members from teaching or research.

Freedom in the Classroom

Report assessing arguments made in support of recent legislative efforts to regulate classroom instruction.

Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board

2006 report addressing aspects of the federal government’s regulations for research on human subjects that constitute a threat to academic freedom.

Professors of Practice

Report addressing a category of full-time non-tenure-track faculty appointments known as “professors of practice.”  It recommends, in accordance with Association principles, that these faculty members be accorded tenure's protections.

Controversy in the Classroom

The AAUP clarifies that the group "Students for Academic Freedom," which purports to rely on AAUP principles concerning controversial subject matter, in fact goes well beyond the AAUP's statements and is inimical to academic freedom and the very idea of liberal education. 

Academic Bill of Rights

Report discussing the Academic Bill of Rights at its potential impact on academic freedom.

Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession

Report examining the costs to academic freedom incurred by the current trend toward overreliance on part and full-time non-tenure-track faculty.  The report recommends that for the good of institutions, of the educational experiences of students, and of the quality of education, the proportion of tenured and tenure-track faculty should be increased.

 

Academic Freedom and National Security in a Time of Crisis

Report assessing risks to academic freedom and free inquiry posed by the nation's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Incentives to Forgo Tenure

Tenure is "indispensable to the success of an institution in fulfilling its obligations to its students and to society." So declares the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The academic community, however, has never lacked for proposals that would undermine tenure and thus its role in serving students and society. Among such current proposals, one in particular requires comment because it has surfaced in recent cases considered by Committee A.1  It proposes that prospective faculty members accept renewable term appointments and forgo consideration for tenure and/or that current faculty members renounce tenure in return for some advantage, such as a higher salary, accelerated leave, or other pecuniary consideration. Proponents of these agreements argue that they embody a free exchange of mutual benefit to the parties. If academic tenure withers in consequence, they claim, that only demonstrates that, in a free market, faculty will have demonstrated their unwillingness to support tenure.

Institutional Review Boards and Social Science Research

Report addressing the government’s rules for protecting human beings who are the subjects of social science research.  It offers suggestions for the improvement of IRB practices and recommendations.

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation

Report addressing the increasing tendency to add the criterion of “collegiality” to faculty evaluations and enumerates why this practice should be discouraged.

Post-tenure Review: An AAUP Response

Policy discussing what post-tenure review should be and not be and its impact on academic freedom.

Nonreappointment & Full-Time Renewable Term Appointments

Report addressing the applicability of the Standards for Notice of Nonreappointment to all full-time faculty members on renewable term appointments.

On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes

Statement addressing campus speech codes and advises consideration of means more compatible with the mission of an academic institution by which to deal with incivility, intolerance, offensive speech, and harassing behavior.

The Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Recommendations for improving the professional status of the growing number of non-tenure-track faculty; suggests minimum standards designed to protect the professional standing of all faculty.

The Status of Part-Time Faculty

Statement offering new propositions, consistent with Association principles, to address some of the continuing problems concerning part-time faculty members.

Statement on Procedural Standards in Faculty Dismissal Proceedings

Joint statement supplementing the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure by providing a formulation of the “academic due process” that should be observed in dismissal proceedings.

Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure

Regulations outlining recommended institutional processes that enable institutions to protect academic freedom, tenure, and to ensure academic due process.

1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure

Statement promoting public understanding and support of academic freedom and tenure and agreement upon procedures to ensure 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.