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Academic freedom is guaranteed to faculty, subject only to accepted standards of professional responsibility including, but not limited to, the following:
The importance of academic freedom to both teaching and learning is recognized and accepted by the university. Academic freedom includes the right to study, discuss, and publish. Academic freedom applies to teaching and research, as well. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in teaching is fundamental to the rights of the teacher and students-and it includes the freedom to perform one’s professional duties and to present differing and sometimes controversial points of view, free from reprisal.
The concept of freedom, however, is accompanied by responsibility. The faculty are members of a learned profession. When they speak or write as citizens, they must be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As learned people and as educators, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. They should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should indicate that they are not speaking for the institution.
To secure student freedom in learning, faculty members should encourage in the classroom free and orderly discussion, inquiry, and expression of their courses’ subject matter. Student performance must be evaluated solely on an academic basis, not on opinions or conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards. Students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion, even while they are responsible for learning the content of any course for which they are enrolled. DSU has established an academic-appeals procedure to permit review of student allegations that an academic evaluation was tainted by prejudiced or capricious consideration of student opinions or conduct unrelated to academic standards. These procedures prohibit retaliation against persons who initiate appeals or who participate in the review of appeals. BOR Policy 1.6.1.
Academic integrity underlies the educational enterprise of the university and must be a guiding principle in all actions of the university. Academic integrity is the foundation for the standards of acceptable behavior that apply to all within the university community.
To this end, DSU embraces and promotes an atmosphere of honesty and integrity-with the principle that we all must be committed to honesty, fairness, trust, and respect, while we take responsibility for our actions.
To that end, the university will:
- Promulgate clear procedures for dealing with transgression of the established policies protecting academic integrity. These procedures should be congruent with applicable laws, Board of Regents policy, and existing university policy, including the Code of Conduct and the academic-appeals process. The colleges within the university should be allowed the latitude necessary to establish appropriate procedures that take into account not only the values and ideals promoted by the university but also those which are congruent with expectations of acceptable conduct in professional settings. The university community relies on dialogue and learning, and so consultation and mediation should be emphasized as the primary means of resolution in instances where academic integrity has been questioned. This does not preclude stringent application of appropriate university policy when necessary. Similarly, commitment to academic integrity should enhance, not stifle, honest disagreement, debate, and differences of opinion among the members of the university.
- Use all appropriate avenues to disseminate and underscore the core values of academic integrity. Applicants, parents, enrolled students, visitors, faculty, staff, and administrators should be aware of the university’s policies for academic integrity. Commitment to academic integrity should be prominent in all actions of the constituents of the university. All students, faculty, and staff entering the university for the first time shall be apprised of the academic integrity policies and should agree to the philosophy that underlies them. The university should take opportunities to reinforce academic integrity throughout the academic year.
Guided by a deep conviction of the worth and dignity of the advancement of knowledge, members of the faculty should recognize the special responsibilities placed on them. Their primary responsibility to their subject is to seek and to state the truth as they see it. To this end, professors devote energy to developing and improving scholarly competence. They accept the obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge. They practice intellectual honesty. Although professors may follow subsidiary interests, these interests must never seriously hamper or compromise their commitment toward the intellectual life.
As teachers, faculty must encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students, displaying the best scholarly and ethical standards of their discipline. Faculty must demonstrate respect for students as individuals, but they must also fulfill their proper roles as intellectual guides and counselors. TO do so, faculty must make every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct and to ensure that their evaluations of students reflect each student’s true merit, while respecting the confidential nature of the relationship between professor and student. Faculty must avoid any exploitation, harassment, or discriminatory treatment of students. They must acknowledge significant academic or scholarly assistance from students. They must protect academic freedom.
As colleagues, faculty have obligations that derive from common membership in the community of scholars. Faculty must not discriminate against or harass colleagues. They must respect and defend the free inquiry of associates, even when it leads to findings and conclusions that differ from their own. Faculty must strive to be objective in their professional judgment of colleagues and accept a share of responsibilities for the governance of the institution.
As members of an academic institution, professors must seek above all to be effective teachers and scholars. They must observe the stated regulations of the institution, but they retain a right to criticize and seek revision. Faculty give due regard to their paramount responsibilities within their institution in determining the amount and character of work done outside it. When considering the interruption or termination of their service, professors must recognize the effect of their decision upon the program of the institution and give due notice of their intentions.
Faculty have the rights and obligations of any other citizens-and more besides, as scholars, teachers, and intellectuals. Faculty must measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subject, to their students, to their profession, and to their institution. When they speak or act as private persons, they must avoid creating the impression of speaking or acting for their college or university. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends on freedom for its health and integrity, professors have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further public understanding of academic freedom. See: American Association of University Professors.
All employees enjoy the rights of free expression accorded them under state and federal law. Nevertheless, faculty should remember that the public may judge their institution by their public statements. Accordingly, unless they have been authorized to make an official statement on behalf of their institution, faculty should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking or writing as institutional representatives. At a minimum, employees who identify their institutional affiliation should advise the public that the views that they express represent their own private or professional opinions, and that these opinions are given in their individual capacities. See BOR Policy 4.1.7.
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