An ad hoc committee was put together to suggest updates to USF’s Academic Freedom Policy. It felt like the right time to undertake such a thing given the many academic freedom concerns going on around the state and country. The committee discussed academic freedom issues during the Spring semester and met with outside experts on the topic.
Ultimately, the suggested changes included language adopted from the AAUP’s 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, with 1970 interpretive comments. Other additions include stating that the policy applies to all those who teach at the university, including but not limited to, Graduate Student Instructors, Adjunct Faculty, Visiting Faculty, Clinical and Research Faculty, Librarians, Assistant/Associate/Full Professors, and Assistant/Associate/Full Instructional Faculty. The suggested changes state that evaluation of breaches of academic freedom or responsibility be carried out by faculty peers on committees set up at the colleges. The policy states that a faculty member’s peers are in the best position to understand if what they were teaching/researching/doing was appropriate or best practices in their field. There was also language added to protect a faculty member’s ability to speak in a way that disagrees with the university without it being construed as a conflict of interest.
The suggested changes to the policy have been reviewed by the UFF for alignment with the CBA. The changes have been sent on to the Provost, and feedback is forthcoming.