TENURE AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM

LINDA BARTLETT


DOI: 10.2190/C6PL-JLUE-0V30-570N

Abstract

Using a foundation of the judicially defined policy supporting the public interest in maintaining academic freedom, the author analyzes the operation of both tenure and first amendment protections in the public and private sectors of the academic community. The right to academic freedom is examined in three contexts: in the classroom where the professor has the freedom to expound upon ideas; in the community where the professor, as a citizen, has the ability to exercise her civil and political rights in the community; and in the institution, where the faculty, collectively, can determine the conditions of employment within its sphere of influence. The development of these doctrines is discussed against an historical backdrop and an analysis of the way these processes function, both independently and as they intertwine, is provided. The author concludes that both constitutional and tenure protections are necessary to assure the integrity of acquiring knowledge and the advancement of intelligent debate in a free society.

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