The Myth of Academic Freedom

Abstract

It would be difficult to improve upon the articulation of principle just quoted, especially since the statement goes on in the following subsection to state that “Faculty members have a responsibility to […] exert themselves to the limit of their intellectual capacities in scholarship, research, writing, and speaking” and that “[w]hile they fulfill this responsibility, their efforts should not be subjected to direct or indirect pressures or interference from within the university, and the university will resist to the utmost such pressures or interference when exerted from without.” In sum, “[f]aculty members can meet their responsibilities only when they have confidence that their work will be judged on its merits alone. For this reason the appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure of faculty members […] should not be influenced by such extrinsic considerations as political, social, or religious views, or views concerning departmental or university operation or administration. A disciplinary action against a faculty member, including dismissal for cause of faculty, should not be influenced by such extrinsic consideration.”

The University of Colorado was created and is maintained to afford men and women a liberal education in the several branches of literature, arts, sciences, and the professions. These aims can be achieved only in an atmosphere of free inquiry and discussion, which has become a tradition of universities and is called “academic freedom.” For this purpose, “academic freedom” is defined as the freedom to inquire, discover, publish and teach truth as the faculty member sees it, subject to no control or authority save the control and authority of the rational methods by which truth is established. Within the bounds of this definition, academic freedom means that members of the faculty must have complete freedom to study, to learn, to do research, and to communicate the results of these pursuits to others. The students likewise must have freedom of study and discussion. The fullest exposure to conflicting opinions is the best insurance against error […]. All members of the academic community have a responsibility to protect the university as a forum for the free expression of ideas.

—Laws of the Regents of the University of Colorado Article 5, Part D: Principles of Academic Freedom