academic freedom
TRANSCRIPT
ACADEMIC FREEDOMQuest cannot be
barricaded…
TRUTHALWAYS
PREVAILS
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
-ALBERT EINSTEIN
• “The mind, sharp but no broad, sticks at every • point but does not move.”
“God’s silence ripens man’s thought into speech”
-RABINDRANATH TAGORE
In The Words Of Masters…
Preview…• Academic Freedom – A belief• Conflict in Definition• Rationale• Importance of Academic Freedom• American Association of University
Professor• Academic Freedom – What it does
do and doesn’t• Academics for Academic Freedom
(AFAF)• Academic Freedom rights for
Faculty, Institution and Students• Academic Freedom – Around the
World– France, Germany, Philippines,
South Africa, United State• 1940 Statement of Principle on
Academic Freedom and Tenure• Is Tenure is necessary to protect
Academic Freedom
• Conflict with implementation and institutional Academic Freedom rights
• Controversies of Academic Freedom• Academic Freedom in India
– The Kazhikode Case – Academic Freedom – India v/s
West– Affiliation and Academic
Freedom– The real scenario and threats of
Academic Freedom in India• Conclusion• References
Academic Freedom – A Belief
Academic Freedom, is the freedom of teachers and students to teach, study, and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure.
Conflict of Definition…
The term, “Academic Freedom” tends to be difficult to define because its technical definitions come from preferred educational custom and practice (professional norm), faculty contracts (professional norm), and from legal findings related to constitutional and contract law (legal norm).
In its everyday usage, its definition is more likely to come from the folkways and mythology that often define the educational culture.
Rationale…Proponents of academic freedom believe the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy. They argue that academic communities are repeatedly targeted for repression due to their ability to shape and control the flow of information. When scholars attempt to teach or communicate ideas or facts that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities, they may find themselves targeted for public vilification, job loss, imprisonment, or even death. In North Africa, a professor of public health discovered that his country's infant mortality rate was higher than government figures indicated. He lost his job and was imprisoned.
Importance of Academic Freedom…
• Essential to the mission of the academy• Without protection, academic communities
are repressed for their ability to shape knowledge– According to a reflection by Robert Quinn,
historically, the power to shape knowledge is a source of power. Authorities have sought to control societies by controlling scholars
• We should care about increasing the quality and flow of information and understanding in the world (academic freedom and scholarship promotes these goals)
American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
According to AAUP,
“…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 – What it does do…• Both faculty members and students can engage in intellectual
debate without fear of censorship or retaliation.• Establishing a faculty member’s right to remain true to his or her
pedagogical philosophy and intellectual commitments. It preserves the intellectual integrity of our educational system and thus serves the public good.
• Both faculty members and students can make comparisons and contrasts between subjects taught in a course and any field of human knowledge or period of history.
• Academic freedom gives both students and faculty the right to express their views — in speech, writing, and through electronic communication, both on and off campus — without fear of sanction.
• Academic freedom gives both students and faculty the right to study and do research on the topics they choose and to draw what conclusions they find consistent with their research, though it does not prevent others from judging whether their work is valuable and their conclusions sound.
• Political, religious, or philosophical beliefs of politicians, administrators, and members of the public cannot be imposed on students or faculty.
cont….
Academic Freedom – What it does do…
…cont• Academic freedom gives faculty members and students the right to
seek redress or request a hearing if they believe their rights have been violated.
• Academic freedom gives faculty members and students the right to challenge one another’s views, but not to penalize them for holding them.
• Academic freedom protects a faculty member’s authority to assign grades to students, so long as the grades are not capricious or unjustly punitive. More broadly, academic freedom encompasses both the individual and institutional right to maintain academic standards.
• Academic freedom gives faculty members substantial latitude in deciding how to teach the courses for which they are responsible.
• Academic freedom guarantees that serious charges against a faculty member will be heard before a committee of his or her peers. It provides faculty members the right to due process, including the assumption that the burden of proof lies with those who brought the charges, that faculty have the right to present counter-evidence and confront their accusers, and be assisted by an attorney in serious cases if they choose.
Academic Freedom – What it doesn’t do…• Academic freedom does not mean a faculty member can harass,
threaten, intimidate, ridicule, or impose his or her views on students.• Academic freedom does not deny faculty members the right to
require students to master course material and the fundamentals of the disciplines that faculty teach.
• Academic freedom thus does not grant an unqualified guarantee of lifetime employment.
• Academic freedom does not protect faculty members from colleague or student challenges to or disagreement with their educational philosophy and practices.
• Academic freedom does not protect faculty members from non-university penalties if they break the law.
• Academic freedom does not give students or faculty the right to ignore college or university regulations, though it does give faculty and students the right to criticize regulations they believe are unfair
cont…..
Academic Freedom – What it doesn’t do…• Academic freedom does not protect students or faculty from
disciplinary action, but it does require that they receive fair treatment and due process.
• Academic freedom does not protect faculty members from sanctions for professional misconduct, though sanctions require clear proof established through due process.
• Academic freedom does not protect a faculty member from investigations into allegations of scientific misconduct or violations of sound university policies, nor from appropriate penalties should such charges be sustained in a hearing of record before an elected faculty body.
Source: AAUP Policy Documents & Reports.
Academics For Academic Freedom - AFAF
According to AFAF,
Academic Freedom has two main principles:
• “..that academics, both inside and outside the classroom, have unrestricted liberty to question and test received wisdom and to put forward controversial and unpopular opinions, whether or not these are deemed offensive.
• ..that academic institutions have no right to curb the exercise of this freedom by members of their staff, or to use it as grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal.”
Faculty Academic Freedom Rights…
“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 that has no relation to their subject. 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,” (AAUP 1940).
Institutional Academic Freedom…
• The curriculum belongs to the institution, not the faculty.
• The institution can demand certain standards of teaching and evaluate the faculty against those standards.
• The admission process belongs to the institution, not the faculty.
Student Academic Freedom…
Professional Norm: AAUP Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students.“The professor in the classroom
should encourage free discussion, inquiry and
expression. Student performance should be
evaluated solely on academic basis, not on opinions or
conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards.”
Student Academic Freedom…
In the classroom, student speech is protected if:
– Pertinent to classroom discussion and subject matter
– Not expressed in a disruptive mannerOR
– Silent– Passive– Non-disruptive
Academic Freedom – Around The World
A Global Perspective
In France…
The academic freedom of university professors is a fundamental principle recognized by the laws of the Republic, as defined by the Constitutional Council; furthermore, statute law declares about higher education that:
“…teachers-researchers (university professors and assistant professors), researchers and teachers are fully independent and enjoy
full freedom of speech in the course of their research and teaching activities,
provided they respect, following university traditions and the dispositions of this code,
principles of tolerance and objectivity."
In Germany…
The German Constitution (Grundgesetz) specifically grants
academic freedom: "Art and science, research
and teaching are free. Freedom of teaching does not absolve from loyalty to the constitution" (Art. 5,
Para. 3).
In the Philippines…
The 1987 Philippine Constitution states that,
"Academic Freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of
higher learning."
In South Africa…
Section 16 of the 1996 Constitution of South
Africa offers specific protection to academic freedom.
However there have been a large number of scandals around the restriction of academic freedom at a number of universities with particular concern being expressed at the situation at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In the United States…In the United States, academic freedom is generally taken as the notion of academic freedom defined by the "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure," jointly authored by the American Association of University Professors ("AAUP") and the Association of American Colleges (AAC) (now the Association of American Colleges and Universities).
These principles state that-"Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject.“The statement also permits institutions to impose-"limitations of academic freedom because of religious or other aims," so long as they are "clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.”
cont….
In the United States…Academic freedom for colleges and universitiesThe Supreme Court of the United States said that academic freedom means a university can "determine for itself on academic grounds:
• who may teach,• what may be taught,• how it should be taught, and• who may be admitted to study.“
In a 2008 case, a Federal court in Virginia ruled that professors have no academic freedom; all academic freedom resides with the university or college. In that case, Stronach v. Virginia State University, a district court judge held "that no constitutional right to academic freedom exists that would prohibit senior (university) officials from changing a grade given by (a professor) to one of his students."
1940 Statement of
Principles on Academic
Freedom and
Tenure
1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure
ACADEMIC FREEDOM 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.
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. 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.
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.
1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure
ACADEMIC TENUREAfter the expiration of a probationary period, teachers or investigators should have permanent or continuous tenure, and their service should be terminated only for adequate cause, except in the case of retirement for age, or under extraordinary circumstances because of financial exigencies.
Tenure
The American Association of University Professors, in a famous 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, declared:
"Tenure is a means to certain ends, specifically: (1) Freedom of teaching and research and of
extramural activities, and (2) A sufficient degree of economic security to
make the profession attractive to men and women of ability. Freedom and economic security, hence tenure, are indispensable to the success of an institution in fulfilling its obligations to its students and to society."
Interpretation…
• Institutions can ‘limit’ academic freedom for religious or other beliefs as long as it was explicitly stated in writing at the time of appointment
• Teachers need to avoid controversial issues that are not related to the subject being taught
• In public, teachers and others of authority must indicate that what is being said is their personal opinion and does not represent the institution that they are affiliated with
The authority to define and enforce academic freedom lies
with the institution
Is Tenure Necessary to Protect Academic Freedom?
• From an intrinsic perspective, tenure safeguards the freedom of faculty members to speak, write, and associate however they choose.
• Tenure is a key mechanism for protecting academic freedom. Once a faculty member receives tenure, he or she cannot be subjected to adverse employment action, such as firing, without proof of cause.
• By limiting the ability of the university to fire or otherwise take adverse actions against faculty members, tenure provides protection for faculty members to teach and write as they choose.
• tenure offers both procedural and substantive protections.Procedurally, tenure means that a faculty member has continuing employment unless the university initiates an action against the faculty member and succeeds in proving "cause" for termination.Substantively, tenure means that the only specific, narrowly defined circumstances will constitute "cause" sufficient for termination or other adverse employment actions. Although the definition of "cause" varies by university, in general, there must be serious violations of the law or of principles of academic honesty to meet the standard.
Conflict with Implementation…
“YOUR FREEDOM ENDS WHERE ...
MY NOSE BEGINS”There are three groups that SHARES academic freedom
protections-1. The faculty.2. The institution.3. The students.Conflict often arises where these groups intersect.
Conflict with Institutional Academic Freedom• Institutions reserve the right to determine
– Who may teach– Who may be taught– How it shall be taught– Who many be admitted to study
(Regents of the Univ. of Californav. Bakker, 438 U.S. 265, 312 (1978)• Piarowski (1985) shows a conflict between individual and
institutional academic freedom– Faculty member was asked to move his sexually explicit art
display from a gallery in a heavily traveled area to a less traveled area
– Court ruled that a college can regulate the display of explicit material
• Johnson-Kurekv. Abu-Absi (2005) support the concept that the institution has the right to designate how classes are taught and what grades were issued. First amendment protects the individuals right to their belief in pedagogy but not their right to actually do it.
Controversies… “The Bassett Affair”:
In October 1903, Professor John Bassett publicly praised Booker T. Washington and drew attention to the racism and white supremacist behavior of the Democratic, to the disgust of powerful white Southerners. Many media reports castigated Bassett, and many major newspapers published opinion pieces attacking him and demanding his termination. On December 1, 1903, the entire faculty of the college threatened to resign en masse if the board gave into political pressures and asked Bassett to resign.
President Teddy Roosevelt later praised Bassett for his willingness to express the truth as he saw it.
Controversies… “Living Together”:
In 1929, Experimental Psychology Professor Max Friedrich Meyer and Sociology Assistant Professor Harmon O. DeGraff were dismissed from their positions at the University of Missouri for advising student Orval Hobart Mowrer regarding distribution of a questionnaire which inquired about attitudes towards divorce, "living together", and sex. The university was subsequently censured by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in an early case regarding academic freedom due a tenured professor.
Controversies… “Little Eichmann”:
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, some public statements made by some university faculty were criticized. Most prominent among these were these comments made in January 2005 by University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill. He published an essay in which he asserted that the attack on the United States, while unjustified, were provoked by American foreign policy. On news and talk programs, he was criticized for describing the World Trade Center victims as "little Eichmann", a reference to Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem. The university fired Churchill in 2007. Churchill successfully filed a law suit for unlawful termination of employment.
Controversies… “Strike”:
In 2006 trade union leader and sociologist Fazel Khan was fired from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa after taking a leadership role in a strike. In 2008 international concern was also expressed at attempts to discipline two other academics at the same university - Nithiya Chetty and John van der Berg - for expressing concern about academic freedom at the university
Justice Speaks…
• "Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization stagnate and die.”
• “To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation.”
–Chief Justice Earl Warren (Sweezy, 1957)
Justice Speaks…
"The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. . . . To impose any straitjacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our nation. No field of education is so thoroughly comprehended by man that new discoveries cannot yet be made. . . . Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die.“
- Chief Justice Earl Warren
Academic Freedom In India
INDIA
Indian Perspective…
Part III - Fundamental Rights' is a charter of rights contained in the Constitution of India. It guarantees civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India. These include individual rights common to most liberal democracies, such as equality before law, freedom of speech and expression, and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion.
The Kozhikode Case…KOZHIKODE:M V Narayanan, professor and head, department of English has moved the high court against the vice-chancellor alleging harassment on four counts, including the issuing of a memo for conducting a national seminar on translation organized in association with the National Book Trust.Another professor has also been served the memo last month for speaking to the media. Teachers say that the authoritarian restrictions on freedom of thought, speech and action have put academic freedom in danger at the varsity."These memos are only a ploy to intimidate all those who have a different opinion on the state of affairs at the varsity. Knowledge creation and academic pursuits will not happen in an atmosphere where academic freedom is stifled," said K P Muraleedharan, professor, dept of commerce and management studies.
The Kozhikode Case… Employee unions claim that taking part in a protest march or
even speaking to the media is all that is needed to get a show-cause memo. "In a varsity with around 1,400 administrative staff, already around 700 memos have been issued with many getting more than one memo. It is strange that the authorities have gone to the extent of constituting a separate section at the administrative wing just to serve memos and make follow-ups on disciplinary proceedings," said Calicut University Employees Union general secretary S Sadanandan. Narayanan, who filed the writ petition under article 226 of the Constitution, said the varsity had served a memo alleging that the national seminar on 'Politics of Translation' conducted by the department didn't have proper permission. The petition seeks a directive to the vice-chancellor not to obstruct Narayanan from undertaking and discharging his bonafide academic responsibilities and pursuits as envisaged in the CU Act and Statutes, and as laid down by the policies of the UGC.
“The Hindu” speaks…
“There is need for evolution of policies that recognize the changes in the landscape of higher education in India. While the legal and institutional framework for protecting the freedom of speech and expression in India is sound along with an independent judiciary that can enforce the fundamental rights, there are certain aspects of political culture, religious intolerance and cultural dogmatism that pose challenges to the protection of academic freedom.”
Academic freedom – India v/s WestIt is difficult to draw parallels between academic freedom in the west and in India as their educational processes and advancements vary widely. West has a history of private education, impelled and conditioned by the philosophy of educational service to society, and many educational institutions are private and self-regulating. India does not have such history. Its education system is mostly a bureaucratic appendage of the state.Educational advancements in India are incomparably lower than in the west. India’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) for higher education (tertiary or degree-level) is between 9 per cent and 11 per cent of the population in the relevant age group. Going by UNESCO statistics, the GER in developed countries is between 44 per cent (Switzerland) and 86 per cent (Finland).
GER in developed countries and India, 2001Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Education Indicators.
Enrollment Level
Developed Countries IndiaTotal Male Famil
yGPI Total Male Famil
yGPI
Primary 100.6
100.7
100.6 1.00
98.1 106.0
89.7 0.85
Secondary 105.9
104.7
107.2 1.02
50.3 57.5 42.5 0.74
Tertiary 54.6 39.5 70.1 1.8 11.4 13.4 9.3 0.70
Affiliation and Academic Freedom
At the all-India level about 90 per cent of under-graduate and 66 per cent of post-graduate students are in affiliated colleges and only the rest are in university departments and constituent colleges. Of the research students 91 per cent are in universities. As many of the colleges lack facilities, they do not have academic freedom for teaching and research. As affiliation is seen as an affliction and a systemic malaise, of late there has been increasing demand to do away with it.As the majority of students and teachers are in affiliated colleges where the foundations of higher education are laid, in order to place higher education on a fast track, the most important need is to foster these institutions by ensuring equity and fairness in intake, by strengthening basic and infrastructure needs including, and especially of qualified teachers, and by grounding these institutions in disciplinary diversity and excellence in quality. In the absence of these measures any discussion of academic freedom in the context of most of these colleges is inane.To provide academic freedom to potential colleges, the UGC has been granting autonomous status. Granting autonomy is an important measure of fostering quality education and academic freedom.
THE REAL SCENE
• cATTACK
ON
ACADEMIC
FREEDOM
IN
INDIA
Lack of Academic Freedom – The Real Scene
India has hardly any academic freedom. This is because the various choices which the stakeholders in education can normally exercise in a developed democracy are lacking in India.
The ongoing privatization and commercialization of education, which affect the freedom and autonomy of students, teachers, and parents in relation to education. Within the state sector teachers and students are fairly well organized. This is not so in private institutions.
Recently, when the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) derecognized a number of deemed universities, students, parents, and teachers were all helpless. The students, anxious about their future, went on strike. But they were roughed up by police. Police also filed false cases against some of them, apparently at the instance of the managements. The state was a passive spectator.
The Real Scene…
Many of the state universities are in disarray. Because of language and quota politics the quality of students, teachers, and teaching leaves much to be desired. There are cases of teachers migrating to other universities under duress. The faculty incentive scheme recently introduced in some state universities works against academic ethos. Those who can bring in money to the university corpus are given incentive credits in cash. The attempts to turn education into a money-spinner are apparently at the cost of academic freedom.
The Real Scene…The political and bureaucratic interference in state-run universities is deplorable. Often Vice-Chancellors cannot inspire the faculty and students; in their eagerness to please politicians and bureaucrats they forget their academic and leadership roles in universities. Corruption is rampant in state universities. According to Transparency International, education is the most corrupt sector in India, next to health.
When some of the appointments of teachers and Vice-Chancellors are by ingratiating politicians, their primary concern is profit, and not teaching. Quality of the profession is the casualty. In such situations academic freedom cannot flourish. Between central and state universities, the former get favored treatment. It is mainly the former which may be said to have academic freedom, though even in their case only very few academics are active as to claim their role as one of freedom.
Threats to Academic Freedom in India1. Academic freedom in India is, however,
often stymied by the state’s inaction, particularly failure to foster academic institutions, and lack of well-being, ethos, and integrity in many institutions.
2. Restriction on the use of archival material, by treating the last 30 years records as ‘current’, and inaccessible to scholars;
3. Some universities not allowing dissertations on living personalities without their written permission; and
4. Political interference in university appointments and affairs.
Threats to Academic Freedom in India
During the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule which preceded the present Congress-led United Progress Alliance, State actions went against established academic norms. These included the introduction of astrology as an academic discipline, rewriting of textbooks by the NCERT, rewriting of history books, and in general, attempts to introduce into education the BJP’s version of Indian society, through what was generally termed as the falsification of history.
As the persons who carried out the state’s diktats were academics, who could have resisted what are now considered political aberrations, whether it is the academia or the state which should be blamed is debatable.
It's time to conclude…Academic Freedom, is not a term to define; is not a formula to apply. When the sun rises to brighten the world, irrespective of any region, country or continent, it is natural. When mind quests to brighten the wisdom, irrespective of any subject or matter, it is also natural. When we learn, we need a teacher whose ideas are free from any flexuous psychological blockage. Who ignites the minds of a generation. Who never confines his vision into the vial of syllabuses. And when we teach, we need a student who is not proud of his eye-glasses, but of his eyesight. Who learn to be excellent. Who learn to innovate, who learn to inspire. Who learn to implement the accumulated knowledge for the betterment of civilization. When we born, we were casted to play the dual role in our life..both as learner and as a teacher, sometimes simultaneously. Success is a blind-follower of excellence. Institutions are contributed to teachers and learners. Their researches should not be circumscribed by any dominating narcissistic principle. The history of human civilization talks of many evidences where academic freedom were attacked many times. But in long run they failed repeatedly. And in future history will repeat itself. Because the thirst of truth is always unquenchable. Since we don’t know, what we don’t know….
….LEARNING NEVER ENDS.
References…
1. WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom2. BRITANNICA: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/2591/academic-
freedom3. AAUP: www.aaup.org/issues/academic-freedom4. www.afaf.org.uk/5. HINDU: http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/13/stories/2007111352170800.htm6. USC: http://www.usc.edu/dept/chepa/Papers/Chemerinsky.PDF7. AAUP: http://www.aaup.org/our-work/protecting-academic-freedom8. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND TENURE - Michael J. Grubiak, Ed.D., Vice
President, Student Services, Centralia College.9. ACADEMIC FREEDOM -Arlene Gardner, NJ Center for Civic and Law-
Related Education, Jim Daly, Seton Hall University10.SWEEZY V. NEW HAMPSHIRE, 354 U.S. 234, 250 (1957) (plurality
opinion).11.PROCUNIER V. MARTINEZ, 416 U.S. 396, 427 (1974).12.FREEDOM AND TENURE IN THE ACADEMY: The Fiftieth Anniversary of
the 1940 Statement of Principles, 53 L. & Cont. Prob. 407, appendix B (1990)
13.ERWIN CHEMERINSKY, Legion Lex Professor of Law14.RADHAKRISHNAN: Academic Freedom from a Human Rights’ Perspective
