3.7.4 Academic Freedom

The institution ensures adequate procedures for safeguarding and protecting academic freedom.

Compliance           ___  Partial Compliance          ___  Non-Compliance

Narrative:   

South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) follows the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors (LCTCS) policy regarding rights, duties, and responsibilities of the academic staff which define academic freedom. SLCC further defines academic freedom in the Faculty Handbook (1):

South Louisiana Community College is committed to the principle of academic freedom.  This principle acknowledges the right of a teacher to explore fully within the field of his/her subjects what he or she knows to represent the truth.  The principle also includes the right of a member of the academic staff of the System to exercise in speaking, writing, and action outside the System the ordinary rights of the American citizen, but it does not decrease the responsibility and accountability to which the member of the faculty bears to students, SLCC and the System.

Everyone in the College must cherish the principle of academic freedom, but an instructor’s academic freedom should not impinge upon a student’s need for core knowledge in a subject or program. The instructor’s responsibility is to provide the student with the means to acquire that knowledge.  Among the many implicit responsibilities assumed by those enjoying the privileges of academic freedom shall be that of refraining from insisting that students or others adopting any particular personal opinion, belief, or point of view as absolute truth.  Students should be taught to question sources of fact and opinion and to measure the reliability and validity of such sources.

Academic freedom also implies that the methodology used to transmit information is sound and effective, acknowledging the students’ right to learn as well as accommodating multiple learning styles.  It also requires the adherence to the minimum requirements described in master syllabi.

The faculty member, therefore, is responsible for assuring that both the curriculum (content) and the pedagogy (presentation of content) as well as the opportunities to learn are consistent with the College’s education goals and objectives and for demonstrating that the expected results have been achieved.

The SLCC policy is reflective of the LCTCS policy: Policy #1.038) (2):

Academic Freedom is the right of members of the academic community freely to study, discuss, investigate, teach, conduct research, and publish as appropriate to their respective roles and responsibilities.  Because the common good depends upon the free search for and exposition of truth and understanding, full freedom in research and publication is essential, as is the freedom to discuss scholarly subjects in the classroom.

There have been no instances in which issues involving academic freedom have emerged.

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