Learning the Hidden Curriculum of Academic Freedom 

A primary purpose of U.S. higher education is to conduct teaching and promote learning. Yet, the system often relies on many of its members to know and understand certain tenets of higher education without ever formally teaching it. A few critical pillars support the success of U.S. higher education, and their importance is growing as the sector faces significant criticism and outright attacks from outside actors. Academic freedom—a central tenet of higher education—fits somewhere within both of these categories. It is assumed that most faculty members and graduate students understand academic freedom, despite never being formally taught about it.

For scholars outside the field of higher education or education policy, opportunities to formally learn about academic freedom, as I did in my Ph.D. program, may not exist. In the second year of my program, I decided to join my university’s shared governance committee, specifically focused on academic freedom and tenure. During our first meeting, as part of our introductions, we were all asked to share our name, role, department or unit, and a brief explanation of what we know about academic freedom. I was surprised to hear that some faculty and staff members were not confident in their understanding of what academic freedom is or how to navigate it. They hoped that their time and service on the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee would offer them an opportunity to learn more about it so they could disseminate their new knowledge within their home departments and units. 

Academic freedom is one of many topics that is likely covered in faculty orientation sessions or may be a popular topic of professional development sessions presented to graduate students and faculty members. However, if the success of higher education depends on strong support of academic freedom, it is critical that graduate students and early career scholars understand it, and that institutions are clear in providing opportunities to learn about it, establish role-specific policies, and engage campus communities in discussions about academic freedom. 

 

What is Academic Freedom? 

Modern definitions of academic freedom draw from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure and 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Both documents state that faculty members must have the ability to freely pursue knowledge and seek truth for the common good (AAUP, 1940). In the 1915 Declaration, the AAUP broadly defined academic freedom as the freedoms granted to both students and teachers, before specifying the components of a teacher’s academic freedom: “freedom of inquiry and research; freedom of teaching within the university or college; and freedom of extramural utterance and action” (AAUP, 1940, p. 292). The 1940 Statement of Principles further affirms this previous definition and explains the importance of academic freedom:

Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights (AAUP, 1940, p. 14).

With these two broad definitions, the AAUP left room for later interpretations of what academic freedom is and is not. These definitions also identify some of the individuals who hold the rights and responsibilities of academic freedom, although the scope of academic freedom has been further clarified through interpretative comments and additional guidance from the AAUP. There are many interpretations of the AAUP’s Principles and Declarations as it relates to academic freedom, beyond the AAUP’s own interpretations, including institutional policies regarding academic freedom.

 

Graduate Student Academic Freedom: It’s Complicated 

For graduate students, the extent of their academic freedom often depends on the role they are fulfilling: graduate student or university employee. This creates a complicated, gray area for graduate students because, oftentimes, their roles may be more intertwined due to the nature of their teaching and research. The AAUP has some guidance on graduate student academic freedom, however, it only focuses on graduate students’ roles as employees. In a forthcoming paper, I explore how graduate student union collective bargaining agreements define academic freedom, to better understand the scope of graduate student academic freedom and how it may impact graduate students as they navigate their dual roles. My findings greatly surprised me—of the initial 95 collective bargaining agreements I investigated, only 14 mentioned academic freedom explicitly. Of those 14, graduate students’ academic freedom was awarded and discussed in varying ways.

A few of these contracts awarded graduate students academic freedom equal to faculty members, suggesting that a graduate student and a faculty member are to be viewed equally when it comes to disputes around one’s academic freedom. Others made it clear that a student’s academic freedom was separate and different when they are acting in their role as a student (for example, in the classroom and in their independent research) versus their role as an employee (for example, when teaching or working in a lab). One of the challenges I found in all of these contracts was that there were a number of contracts that reestablished or reinforced the hierarchy of academic freedom—faculty academic freedom remains at the top, while graduate students are somewhere underneath them. In other words, a student’s academic freedom is contingent upon that of the faculty members. In institutions without graduate student unions, policies may clarify the scope of graduate students’ academic freedom and how it may apply differently to their distinct roles.

 

Faculty Academic Freedom

For faculty members, there is a misconception that one’s academic freedom is tied to or directly related to their tenure status. For tenured faculty members, one’s academic freedom may be assumed. However, adjunct, contract, or tenure-track faculty members may not feel as if they have the same level of confidence, protection, and security in their academic freedom. According to the AAUP, institutions should uphold full academic freedom for faculty members pursuing tenure or serving on the tenure track. In addition, most adjunct faculty members are awarded academic freedom, depending on their institution’s policies, yet this academic freedom may feel more contentious and debated. The increasing reliance on adjunct faculty over tenured and tenure-track faculty presents a threat to academic freedom, as they can be dismissed at any time for nearly any reason.

 

So, How Should We Learn About Academic Freedom? 

Through my own research, I have found that faculty members come to learn about academic freedom in both formal and informal ways. Similar to new students, faculty members also attend orientation sessions as part of their transition to a new campus or new school year, where they may hear directly from the provost or senior leadership about academic freedom resources. However, these sessions typically only last part of a day or take place over a few days, and discuss many topics related to research and teaching, not just academic freedom. Faculty may also learn about academic freedom from peers, such as through a mentoring program. Faculty mentoring is often part of the promotion and tenure process, and faculty members may have regular meetings with their mentor as they progress towards tenure. Other opportunities may include campus-wide professional development or external organizations and programs dedicated to academic freedom and preserving faculty academic freedom.

For graduate students, these opportunities may not be as clear as they are for faculty members. For graduate students on campuses where there are graduate student unions, a collective bargaining agreement may be a useful first place to look to better understand the institution’s policies. In addition, institutional policy libraries or their graduate school may have specific resources on academic freedom. Students should also clarify if they have access to faculty resources on academic freedom, which will vary depending on how their institution perceives student academic freedom.

Institutions should continue to provide ongoing professional development on academic freedom for all members of the campus community. Even though such programs do exist, their frequency, accessibility, and attention to matters of academic freedom remain unclear. In particular, graduate schools and provosts should work towards creating a resource library for their institutions, so that policies, procedures, and other training information regarding academic freedom are widely accessible. In doing so, institutions will more effectively uphold academic freedom as a cornerstone of higher education.

 

References

American Association of University Professors (AAUP). (1940). 1940 statement of principles on 

academic freedom and tenure. 

https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure