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This policy applies to all students and faculty with respect to research and to course instruction offered across all Rowan campuses and schools.
IV. DEFINITIONS
- “Academic freedom” refers to the right of members of disciplinary communities to self-determine parameters of inquiry and knowledge in their field, appropriate methods of research, how to disseminate and evaluate that research, and how to teach their subjects in their classroom.
- “Faculty” includes faculty of all ranks: tenure-track instructors/professors, non-tenure track instructors/professors, clinical faculty/professors, visiting professors, part-time instructors, and adjunct instructors. Librarians are included as faculty when they are serving as subject matter experts in and out of the classroom (see Section VII.1.C below). Professional staff, administrators, and managers are considered faculty for the purposes of this policy when serving as instructors, even when receiving no compensation.
- “Research” encompasses all forms and stages of scholarly and creative activities across academic disciplines:
- Generating new knowledge or expanding knowledge through scholarly pursuits, study, and creative inquiry
- Disseminating this knowledge/scholarly findings through discipline-specific deliverables, which can include scholarly genres (e.g., conference presentations, journal articles) and creative activity (e.g., creative writing, visual art, musical composition, choreography, theatre productions)
- Applying research to solve real-world problems
- Pursuing funding, such as grants, to make possible the inquiry, the application, and the study of ideas and knowledge in action
V. POLICY
In higher education, faculty and students have the fundamental and well-established right to “academic freedom,” which grants freedom in research, teaching, and learning. This right values and protects free inquiry and intellectual discourse in a democratic society, and it is made possible by our shared commitment to professional ethics and standards for professional conduct. While not a constitutional right, academic freedom has been established in case law, most often drawing on The American Association of University Professors (AAUP)’s “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.” Academic freedom entitles members of disciplinary communities to determine parameters of inquiry and knowledge in their field, appropriate methods of research, how to disseminate and evaluate that research, and how to teach their subjects in the classroom. As such, academic freedom does not protect all forms of faculty speech but rather speech tied to subject matter and disciplinary expertise in the classroom and in their research. Rowan University supports faculty’s academic freedom in research and teaching, as these are the fundamental activities that define a research institution and higher education. The First Amendment and freedom of expression more broadly cover other kinds of expression, and that constitutional right also protects the speech of non-faculty employees.
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- ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINARY EXPERTISE
- Faculty speech is protected by academic freedom in three broad areas:
- research and the dissemination of knowledge in the field, serving as a subject matter expert in the public sphere/to outside parties, and teaching and curriculum development.
- Faculty are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of results, both in academic and public-facing outlets. Creating new disciplinary knowledge entails challenging prior ways of thinking; thus, controversies stemming from research are an academic norm rather than an aberration.
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- As stewards of research materials, librarians also have academic freedom. The AAUP endorses the American Library Association’s statement that for librarians, academic freedom “is indispensable to librarians, because they are trustees of knowledge with the responsibility of ensuring the availability of information and ideas, no matter how controversial, so that teachers may freely teach and students may freely learn. Moreover, as members of the academic community, librarians should have latitude in the exercise of their professional judgment within the library. . .”
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- When faculty serve as subject matter experts, such as being interviewed by the media or publishing an opinion piece in print or digital platforms, the protections of academic freedom extend to that faculty’s public speech.
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- Faculty are entitled to freedom in the classroom in selecting materials that relate to the subject matter. For many courses, the discipline’s methods of study can be applied to a variety of topics and issues; these choices should be left to the professional judgment of faculty. In seeking to make their courses relevant to students’ lives and to demonstrate real-world application, faculty will often choose to work with current events or contemporary issues, which may have political dimensions and could be considered controversial.
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- Students also have academic freedom, and faculty should recognize students' right to individual opinions and the ways that different backgrounds and experiences often shape responses to new subject matter. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows serving in instructional or research roles should be afforded the academic freedom applicable to those responsibilities, while retaining the rights and protections afforded to them in their status as students. Faculty have a responsibility to ensure all students’ right to learn, or ability to benefit from open intellectual exploration and the pursuit of truth, is upheld and to foster a respectful learning environment in accordance with the university’s Classroom Behavior Policy.
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Online Asynchronous Master Courses and Multi-Section Standardization
Nothing in this policy shall be construed to limit the authority of the faculty, acting through approved governance processes, to establish required course objectives, learning outcomes, common assessments, accreditation requirements, or other core curricular elements for specific courses, either in person or through Rowan Online. Faculty assigned to teach such courses are expected to cover those required elements while retaining professional discretion over instructional methodology.
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3. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
- In addition to being subject matter experts, faculty are also university community members and members of a broader society. As such, they often express intramural and extramural opinions that either go beyond their disciplines or extend their subject matter expertise into their lives as private members. Speech in these contexts, outside of the classroom, is protected by freedom of expression rather than academic freedom. While exercising their right to free expression, faculty are still expected to follow the university’s Code of Ethics, and expression can come with professional consequences if it takes the form of harassment, discrimination, direct threat, or is otherwise unlawful.
- As an aspect of shared governance, faculty, as well as professional staff, must be able to offer professional opinions and to debate curriculum, practices, policies, and structures at the institution without fear of reprisal.
- Through both formal (e.g., University Senate) and informal (e.g., Q&A at a university town hall) mechanisms for dialogue, employee’s intramural speech is protected by freedom of expression so long as it falls within the university’s Code of Ethics and does not violate other applicable policies.
- Unless serving in the role of subject matter expert, Faculty speak in the public sphere as private individuals rather than public employees and are free from institutional censorship or discipline. Faculty should exercise their right to speak on matters of public concern without fear of reprisal, but also, as members of a learned profession, should use professional judgment in their conduct. They should not represent themselves as a spokesperson for the institution unless officially requested to do so by the institution.
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4. ADDRESSING CONCERNS OR BREACHES OF CONDUCT
- When the institution receives a complaint about a faculty member’s speech, investigatory or appropriate processes will be used to evaluate that speech and determine appropriate action. While speech that takes the form of harassment, discrimination, direct threat, or other unlawful content is unacceptable and therefore may be grounds for discipline and possibly dismissal in accordance with applicable policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, speech expressing an unpopular or controversial opinion alone is not cause for dismissal. As the AAUP has stated,“. . . a faculty member’s expression of opinion as a [resident of the US] cannot constitute grounds for dismissal unless it clearly demonstrates the faculty member’s unfitness to serve. Extramural utterances rarely bear upon the faculty member’s fitness for continuing service. Moreover, a final decision should take into account the faculty member’s entire record as a teacher and scholar.”
- As with any complaint about a faculty member, the University must act within federal law, state law, the applicable collective bargaining agreements and university policies, and follow established procedures for reviewing complaints and potentially disciplining faculty. The University may not terminate a contract of employment without following applicable processes. In most cases, collective bargaining agreements call for progressive discipline rather than termination.
- Union-represented employees who may be subject to discipline are entitled to a union representative throughout any investigatory process.
VI. ATTACHMENTS
- The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.” (AAUP website)
- Rowan University Classroom Behavior Policy
- Rowan University Code of Ethics for Faculty & Staff
- 2019-2023 AFT Statewide Agreement for Full-Time/Part-Time AFT Employees (CNJSCL web page); includes faculty right to academic freedom
- 2019-2023 AFT Statewide Agreement for Adjunct Faculty (CNJSCL web page); includes faculty right to academic freedom
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