VI
The concept of academic freedom embraces more
than mere protection against
arbitrary dismissals,
though the central purpose of tenure is to protect
the
teacher against such dismissals. In fact, professors often
have
occasion to complain about many other forms of
mistreatment. The American
Association, for example,
has received frequent complaints about denial of
salary
increases, or the receipt of increases below the average,
or
the assignment of inconvenient hours or unwelcome
courses, and other forms
of unwanted action taking the
form and having the purpose of harassment. If
profes-
sors are to be free from external
restraints in their
pursuit of the truth, they must be as free from harass-
ment as they are from the crippling
pressure of the
possibility of summary dismissal. The American Asso-
ciation of University Professors has
always taken the
position that the best security against most forms of
harassment is to be found within the machinery of the
institution itself. Thus, an essential element of the
prevailing American
conception of academic freedom
is the principle of maximum faculty
participation in
the decision-making processes of the institution.
Through faculty meetings, faculty committees, and
other devices of
communication, the faculty, it is
believed, can achieve a responsible place
in the making
of institutional decisions. For example, institutions
are
encouraged to have faculty grievance committees, built
into the
official organizational system of the institution,
for the adjustment of
complaints.
The whole concept of faculty involvement in insti-
tutional government took a giant step forward in 1966,
when
three major groups in American higher educa-
tion, the American Council on Education, the Ameri-
can Association of University Professors, and the As-
sociation of Governing Boards of
Universities and
Colleges, reached agreement on a joint Statement on
Government of Colleges and Universities. This
State-
ment
recognizes that college or university government
is the joint
responsibility of the various major elements
of the academic community,
faculties, administrators,
governing boards, and students, since, it is
noted, “the
variety and complexity of the tasks performed by
insti-
tutions of higher education
produce an inescapable
interdependence” among them. Joint
efforts by all
components of the institution are needed for effective
planning and communication, for budgeting, for the
selection of the chief
academic officials, and for the
optimum use of facilities. More
particularly, the tri-
partite
Statement recognizes that the faculty has
“pri-
mary
responsibility” with respect to curriculum, sub-
ject matter and methods of instruction, research, and
those elements of student life which relate to the edu-
cational process. The faculty determines the require-
ments for the degrees offered in
courses, and decides
when and how degree requirements have been met.
It is also recognized that the faculty has primary re-
sponsibility with respect to academic appointments,
reappointments, decisions not to reappoint, promo-
tions, the granting of tenure, and dismissals. This re-
sponsibility rests upon the fact that
scholars in a par-
ticular field have the
chief competence for making
judgments on all these matters of faculty
status.
Of course, administrative review and board approval
are part of the
complicated procedures which are
involved in making decisions on questions
of faculty
status, but faculty judgment on these matters should
normally be decisive, and should not be overruled
except for very
compelling reasons, and in accordance
with procedures spelled out in
advance with explicit
detail. In addition, it is agreed that the faculty
should
be consulted in the selection of department chairmen,
deans and presidents, and in the making of budget
policy.
Finally, it is recognized that if faculty partici-
pation is to be meaningful, the institution must
have
suitable agencies for participation through regularly
scheduled
faculty meetings, representative assemblies,
and faculty committees, of
which at least the most
important should be elected directly by the
faculty.
The tripartite Statement reflects a dramatic change
in the structure of American colleges and universities,
for in the early
days of higher education in America
the faculty was weak and the president
of the institu-
tion was in a very
commanding position. The historic
position of the American university
president was a
powerful one from the very beginning, but changes
have
occurred in the course of history, and this has
resulted in significant
changes in the distribution of
power within the institution. The basic
historic fact
is that in the United States there were college presi-
dents long before there were
professionally-trained,
full-time, competent faculties completely
committed
to the teaching profession. The earliest teachers in the
American colleges were mainly preachers who taught
part-time, or who taught
occasionally as an alternative
to other activities. In contrast, from the
very start the
president was a full-time, fully-committed chief
officer
of the institution. The colleges were weak, professional
faculties were unknown, and the only person who could
speak for the
college, defend it against its enemies in
the community, and secure the
necessary support, was
the president. Thus, the president was strong
because
the faculty was weak.
The conditions which created the powerful presi-
dent, however, disappeared with the rise of strong,
professionally-competent, full-time faculties, made up
of scholars and
teachers, able to insist upon sharing
with the institution's administration
the responsibility
for making basic policy decisions. The growing involve-
ment of American professors in the
governance of their
institution is a consequence of their professional
com-
petence. This is not to suggest that
presidents are
unimportant or without power, but in the modern age
the
professors have assumed the responsibility of exer-
cising a large portion of the innovative function in
higher
education, for the president has become an
extremely busy academic
entrepreneur who lacks the
time and energy to be concerned very much or
very
often with educational innovation.
The concept of a partnership between adminis-
tration, teaching faculty, and students now dominates
the
American education scene. Professors do not regard
themselves as mere
employees who can be hired and
fired at will, and the theory and practice
of academic
freedom, suitably buttressed by faculty participation
in
the governance of the institution, has rendered
wholly untenable the conception of the professor as
a hired
hand.
Finally, the modern concept of academic freedom
insists that the professor
has a right to exercise all of
the rights of citizenship, including freedom
of speech
and freedom of association, and that in exercising these
rights he should be subjected to no institutional inter-
ference or academic penalties. The 1940 Statement
declares that the faculty member, as a
citizen, has the
right to speak or write free from institutional censor-
ship or discipline, though attention is
called to the
professor's special obligation to be accurate, to
exercise
appropriate restraint, to show respect for the opinion
of
others, and to make every effort to indicate that
he is not an
institutional spokesman. It is widely recog-
nized in the American academic community that a
faculty member, like
other citizens, should be free to
engage in political activities so far as
he can do so
consistently with his professional obligations as a
teacher and scholar.
