A02.10.06 Academic Freedom

Policy Statement
Purpose
Related Policies
Definitions
Procedures and Guidelines
Appendix

Policy Statement

Douglas College will ensure a teaching and learning environment that supports academic freedom. Academic staff and students have rights and privileges to engage in independent thinking and expression unhindered by external or non-academic constraint, to pursue avenues of inquiry and to engage in full and unrestricted consideration of any opinion. These rights carry with them the duty and responsibility to use that freedom in a way that is consistent with the scholarly pursuit for truth, knowledge and understanding. These rights and privileges must be used within the applicable laws and College policy reflecting these laws.

Purpose

Institutions of higher learning serve the common good of society and are dedicated to the pursuit and dissemination of truth, knowledge and understanding through fostering independent thinking and expression. These ends cannot be achieved without academic freedom.

Related Policies

Note: The form and means of expression of academic freedom in the College may be affected by laws and College policies. Academic staff, students and others are urged to consult the following related College policies:

A15.01.01 Advertising

A20.01.02 Electronic Mail Usage

A02.10.04 Integrity in Research and Scholarship

A02.10.02 Research and Scholarly Activity

A10.02.01 Standards of Conduct Involving College Employees

A10.02.02 Standards of Student/User Conduct

A10.01.04 Use of College Concourse

A10.01.05 Violence Prevention Involving College Employees

A10.01.06 Violence Prevention Involving Student/Users

A08.01.01 College Use of Copyrighted Works

Definitions

Academic Freedom:

The freedom to engage in teaching, learning, research or other creative work in order to expand knowledge and to do so in an atmosphere of free inquiry and exposition. It includes the right to examine, question, teach and learn in an environment that supports the need to investigate, speculate and comment without penalty or sanction.

Academic staff:

This includes all College employees who are engaged in educational pursuits within the College. This may include external visitors, speakers or scholars operating under the auspices of the College.

Students:

Those individuals enrolled in study at the College.

Procedures and Guidelines

1. Academic staff have academic freedom to pursue the following, without institutional censorship or reprisal:
   1. Conduct teaching and related discussion;
   2. Freely express one's opinion on matters related to teaching and curricular responsibilities ;
   3. Carry out research and disseminate the results;
   4. Produce and perform creative works;
   5. Engage in service to the institution and community;
   6. Acquire, preserve and provide access to the widest range of materials in all formats; and
   7. Participate in professional and representative academic bodies.
2. Students have academic freedom to pursue the following, without institutional censorship or reprisal:
   1. Raise for discussion in a class aspects of a topic pertinent to the subject matter of that class;
   2. Meet on campus to discuss topics or issues;
   3. Carry out research under the guidance of an academic staff member and disseminate the results;
   4. Produce and perform creative works, under the guidance of an academic staff member;
   5. Engage in service to the institution and community; and
   6. Express freely one's opinion about the institution and matters related to their course of study.
3. The rights of academic staff and students to exercise their academic freedom do not vary according to the medium in which they are exercised. These rights are as essential to academic activities undertaken electronically as those undertaken in speech, writing and/or other media.
4. Academic staff and students have the responsibility to foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction and free expression of ideas; they are obliged to respect the opinions of students and others in the academic and College community and to maintain accuracy, integrity and academic honesty in the fulfillment of their role.
5. Teaching and academic enquiry often involves controversial matters; academic staff are authorized to conduct a frank discussion of controversial matters and to conduct research and other forms of enquiry into them.
6. As professionals and as employees of the College, academic staff may choose or be called upon to speak publicly in an area of expertise. In these cases, it is appropriate for them to identify themselves as a College employee, but they should not present their views as the official position of the College.
7. Librarians have a duty to promote and maintain intellectual freedom in the institution in keeping with the principles expressed in the Canadian Library Association Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom and the British Columbia Library Association Statement on Intellectual Freedom.

Appendix

Canadian Library Association Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom

British Columbia Association Statement on Intellectual Freedom