Straws in the Wind - Part 246

From Inside Higher Ed: In 2024, the chair of the statewide University of North Carolina Faculty Assembly and the UNC state system embarked on a fraught mission at a fraught time: writing “a consensus definition” of academic freedom for the entire university system. Academic freedom scholars have themselves long disagreed over what academic freedom does and doesn’t protect... Now... the UNC Board of Governors is set to vote on a lengthy definition. It promises many of the protections contained in other descriptions of academic freedom, but it’s drawn opposition from the state’s American Association of University Professors arm over both the express limits it places on that freedom and what the AAUP calls vague language that could be used to further restrict classroom teaching.

“Academic freedom is not absolute,” the proposed new definition says. “Academic freedom is the foundational principle that protects the rights of all faculty to engage in teaching, research/creative activities, service, and scholarly inquiry without undue influence,” the definition says. It goes on to say academic freedom includes the right to teach and research “controversial or unpopular ideas related to the discipline or subject matter.” It also includes parameters saying what academic freedom isn’t.

...But there isn’t full consensus. The state chapter of the national AAUP, which wrote the landmark 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, is objecting... “The impulse to fence in academic freedom should be disregarded and eschewed,” lawyers for the AAUP wrote this week to system officials. “The convenience of defining an academic freedom ‘box’ is antithetical to case law, our constitutions, and historical approaches.”

...Under the proposed definition, the “parameters of academic freedom” won’t include teaching “clearly unrelated to the course description,” “using university resources for political or ideological advocacy in violation of university policy,” or “refusing to comply with institutional policies or accreditation standards.” ...Further, it says, “Management is responsible for resource allocation and program viability,” including approving and eliminating programs and setting “broad curricular frameworks.” And the section on student academic freedom says, among other things, “Students are free to take reasoned exception to concepts and theories presented in their classes … even as they continue to be responsible for learning assigned course content.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2026/01/29/unc-plans-define-what-academic-freedom-and-isnt.