PS# 3527
TITLE: Academic Freedom
Committee
AUTHOR: Vice President for
Academic Affairs
EFFECTIVE: March, 1983
PURPOSE: To define the functions
of the Academic Freedom Committee
REVIEWER: Vice President
for Academic Affairs
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 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 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 eight faculty members with one representative to be selected from each academic division. 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, the faculty member shall have the opportunity to be heard in his own defense, and he shall be permitted to have an advisor of his own choosing who may act as counsel. He and his counsel shall have the right to question witnesses, and to produce depositions from witnesses unable to be present. If he so desires, a full stenographic record of the hearing shall be made available to him 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, she or he will remand the proceedings to the Committee and present the committee 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 IHL, together with the original recommendation of the Faculty Appeals 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.