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Policy 2.7.4
Policy 2.7.4
Policy and Procedures Manual
Classification Number: 2.7.4
Revised: December 13, 2017
SUBJECT: ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
Academic freedom requires a full and rigorous search for inquiry and truth in all disciplines of learning. Such freedom includes discovery, examination, analysis and evaluation of facts and ideas. Hence, it is essential that a faculty member be free to pursue scholarly inquiry without undue restriction, and to voice and publish conclusions concerning the significance of evidence considered relevant. The faculty member must be free from the corrosive fear that others, inside or outside the university community, because their vision may differ, may threaten his or her professional career or the material benefits accruing from it.
Each faculty member is entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing the subject which he or she teaches, but is expected not to introduce controversial matters, which have no relation to the classroom subject. Although each faculty member is also a citizen of his or her nation, state, and community, and must be free from institutional censorship when he or she speaks, writes, or acts as such, faculty must be aware of and sensitive to the morals of the university and Texas Baptists. Therefore, faculty should exercise moral integrity and good taste in the search for and presentation of truth. Limitations of academic freedom because of religion, or other aims of the university, should be clearly stated in writing at the time of appointment.
The fundamental responsibilities of a faculty member as a teacher and scholar include a maintenance of competence in his or her field of specialization and the exhibition of such competence in lectures, discussions, or publications.
Exercise of professional integrity by a faculty member includes recognition that the public will judge his or her profession and institution by statements made by the faculty member. Therefore, when speaking or acting as a private person, the faculty member should strive to be accurate, to exercise appropriate restraints, to show respect for the opinion of others, and to avoid creating the impression that he or she speaks or acts for the university.
The constitutionally protected rights of faculty members, as citizens to freedom of expression on matters of public concern, must be balanced with the interest of the university and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. A faculty member's comments are protected even though they may be critical in tone or content, or erroneous; however, such statements are not protected by free speech if they either substantially impede the faculty member's performance of daily duties or materially and substantially interfere with the regular operation of the university, or if they are part of a continuing pattern of expression of such nature as to destroy the harmony and morale of his or her school. False statements made with knowledge of their falsity or in reckless disregard of the truth are not entitled to constitutional protection.
Faculty members should be professional in their conduct in the classroom and in relationships with students. They should maintain respect for the student and for the student's posture as a learner and should be appropriately available to students for consultation on course work. No recording (via audior or video) of an instructor in a classroom setting may be made without prior express consent of the instructor as to the type of recording and how that recording may be used.
A faculty member has the responsibility to provide due notice of intentions to interrupt or terminate institutional services.
Contact for Interpretation: Vice President of Academic Affairs
This policy statement supersedes all previous policy statements on this subject.
Revisions:
- 12/13/2017 - Class recording statement added.
- 08/14/2017 - Title changes
- 11/17/2013 - Reviewed (no changes)
- 12/18/2008 - Title changes
- 03/26/2007 - Title changes
- 10/01/2004 - Reviewed
- 08/01/2003 - Reviewed
- 01/18/2002 - Reissued as policy 2.7.4
- 08/19/1997 - Reviewed
- 05/05/1992 - Inception date for policy 2.3.2.5
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