| TITLE: | Academic Freedom Committee |
| AUTHOR: | Chief Academic Officer |
| APPROVAL DATE: | November 28, 2005 |
| EFFECTIVE DATE: | November 28, 2005 |
| PURPOSE: | To define the functions of the Academic Freedom Committee |
| REVIEWER AND | Chief Academic Officer |
| REVIEW DATE: | Fall 2006 and every five years thereafter |
| OPERATING DETAILS: |
1.
The Academic Freedom
Committee functions to resolve differences between the University
Administration and aggrieved faculty members.
2.
The Committee, upon
request, will review charges against faculty members who are dismissed
or
terminated for cause, denied promotion or tenure, denied a raise in
salary, or
otherwise discriminated against, when academic freedom may be at issue.
It is
the committee's responsibility to determine whether the faculty
member's
academic freedom has been violated according to the university’s
academic
freedom policy and whether the faculty member has fulfilled the
responsibilities of his or her position. In cases of misconduct in
research, it
is the committee's responsibility to determine whether a violation of
MUW's
policy statement 1311 has occurred and to recommend appropriate action,
depending
on the nature of the misconduct.
3.
Membership on the committee
shall consist of two tenured faculty members from each College.
Representatives
from a College must be from different departments within the College.
The
committee will elect a new chairperson for each case.
4.
The committee meets at the
request of the Chief Academic Officer, when a written request is
submitted by
an aggrieved faculty member or when a case is referred by the Faculty
Appeals
Committee or Faculty Research Committee.
5.
The Chief Academic Officer
will prepare a statement of charges and deliver it to the faculty
member
concerned at least one month before the date set for the hearing. At
the
hearing, faculty members shall have the opportunity to be heard in
their own
defense, and they shall be permitted to have an advisor of their own
choosing
who may act as counsel. The faculty member and chosen counsel
shall have
the right to question witnesses, and to produce depositions from
witnesses
unable to be present. If the faculty member so desires, a full
stenographic
record of the hearing shall be made available without cost. If there
are
charges of incompetence or failure to maintain professional standards
of
conduct, the testimony shall include that of teachers and other
scholars. Such
hearings are not open to the public, but observers from professional
organizations shall be allowed to be present at the request of any of
the
parties concerned.
6.
Following the hearing, the
Academic Freedom Committee will make its recommendation for action in
the case
to the Chief Academic Officer, basing the recommendation upon
substantial
evidence presented in the hearing, and will present to the Chief
Academic
Officer and the faculty member concerned a copy of its record of the
hearing.
The Chief Academic Officer shall forward the recommendation to the
President.
7.
If the President does not
concur in the recommendation of the Academic Freedom Committee, the
Committee
will be presented with a written explanation of the grounds for
disagreement.
The Committee shall respond to this explanation in the form of a new
written
recommendation. Additional hearings may be conducted at the discretion
of the
Committee or at the request of the President. A copy of this
recommendation and
a record of any additional hearings shall be forwarded to the faculty
member
concerned.
8.
After a second review, the
President will take action as deemed necessary in the best interests of
the
University. If this action includes termination or dismissal of the
faculty
member, this recommendation shall be forwarded to the Board of Trustees
of
Institutions of Higher Learning, together with the original
recommendation of
the appropriate individual and/or committee, the recommendation of the
Academic
Freedom Committee, and such other documents as may be deemed pertinent,
including the President's final statement to the Academic Freedom
Committee and
its response.
Revised: March, 1983,
10/1/03, 11/28/05
Reviewed: 03/23/04