The
statement below was endorsed by the Senate of Bilkent University on May 13, 2005, and by
the Board of Trustees on May 24, 2005.
STATEMENT
ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
I.
The Context of Academic Freedom
The Purpose of Universities
The international
community recognizes the important role played in society by universities and other
institutions of higher learning and research. Indeed, all states are expected to provide
higher education in fulfillment of Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948) and Article 13, paragraph 2(c), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (1966).
Modern societies now entrust universities with greater responsibilities than ever before.
Universities are charged with preserving the knowledge of the past and transmitting it to
the next generation; educating tomorrow’s citizens, professionals, and leaders; and
fostering the discovery of new knowledge that may either strengthen or challenge
established ideas and norms -- all with the aim of deepening human understanding and
bettering the human condition. They also function as engines of economic development,
foster technological and scientific innovation, stimulate creativity in the arts and
literature, and address urgent global problems such as poverty, disease, ethno-political
conflict, and environmental degradation.
The Principles of Universities
At the International
Conference convened by UNESCO in 1950, in Nice, the Universities of the World articulated
three interdependent principles for which every university should stand:
The right to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to follow wherever the search for truth
may lead.
- The tolerance of divergent opinion and freedom from political interference.
- The obligation as social institutions to promote, through teaching and research, the
principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and solidarity, and to develop
mutually material and moral aid on an international level.
These principles reflect the central role that university-based research and education
play in the cultural, social, political and economic development of societies. They apply
regardless of whether universities are state-funded, state-regulated, or private
institutions.
II.
The Meaning of
Academic Freedom
The Foundations of Academic Freedom
The principles upon which universities, and the academic activities they embody, stand
are widely recognized. These principles are morally, legally, and politically grounded in
the values that define the role of scholars in all academic disciplines (including the
humanities, the natural, biological, and social sciences, the arts, engineering, law,
medicine, etc.) as professionals and the universities in which they work, study, and teach
as important social institutions that enable, support, and protect scholars’
professional activities.
The activities of preserving, pursuing, disseminating, and creating knowledge and
understanding require societies to respect the autonomy of universities, of the scholars
who research and teach in them, and of the students who come to them to prepare for lives
as knowledgeable citizens and capable leaders. The autonomy of universities is the
guarantor of academic freedom in the performance of scholars’ professional duties.
Academic freedom is therefore distinct from -- and not a mere extension of -- the freedoms
of thought, conscience, opinion, expression, assembly, and association promised to all
human beings under Articles 18, 19, and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and other international covenants.
The Definition of Academic Freedom
At its simplest, academic freedom may be defined as the freedom to conduct research,
teach, speak, and publish, subject to the norms and standards of scholarly inquiry,
without interference or penalty, wherever the search for truth and understanding may lead.
The Importance of Academic Freedom
The value of academic freedom is closely linked to the fundamental purposes and mission
of the modern university. The expanding role that universities are playing in the
Information Age only increases its significance. The emergence of a world-wide knowledge
economy, the unparalleled transnational flow of information and ideas, and the growing
number of young democracies, all make necessary the continued re-examination and
articulation of the nature and importance of academic freedom. Indeed, across the globe,
the defense of academic freedom remains at the heart of ongoing political and economic
battles over the role and autonomy of universities.
Academic freedom benefits society in two fundamental ways. It benefits society directly,
and usually immediately, through the impacts and benefits of applied knowledge, the
training of skilled professionals, and the education of future leaders and citizens. It
benefits society indirectly, and usually over longer periods of time, through the
creation, preservation, and transmission of knowledge and understanding for its own sake,
irrespective of immediate applications.
Thus, academic freedom has both intrinsic and practical value. Above all, by facilitating
critical thinking and open discourse, academic freedom provides the foundation for the
continued intellectual and social value of the university as a place of unfettered debate
and the free exchange of ideas. It thereby enables universities to produce citizens
equipped to thrive in and sustain free and open societies.
III.
The Practice of
Academic Freedom
Academic freedom applies to the activities of faculty and students that are closely
related to or impact upon the educational, scholarly, and research purposes of
universities. Academic freedom is not applicable to every activity, and without
accountability itcan be barren and unproductive. The “freedom” in “academic
freedom” is qualified or bounded by what can reasonably be counted as “academic.” In
practice, this means that universities are best able to gauge the parameters of academic
freedom and therefore must be responsible for a considerable degree of self-regulation.
All of the relevant individual actors, governance bodies, and constituencies within the
university must use their freedom not only to advance the university’s goals of
education, research, and service, but also to contribute positively to an environment of
academic freedom, defending its privileges and fulfilling its obligations.
Like other professional privileges, academic freedom confers both rights and
responsibilities on universities, individual scholars, and students:
- The Rights of Scholars and Students
Academic freedom is fundamental to the central values and purposes of universities, which
must in turn protect freedom of inquiry and speech, without which neither faculty nor
students can flourish or achieve the ends that academic freedom is designed to serve.
Scholars and students must be able to study, learn, speak, teach, research, and publish,
without fear of intimidation or reprisal, free from political interference, in an
environment of tolerance for and engagement with divergent opinions. The teacher is
entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing his or her subject, and when speaking
or writing outside the classroom as an individual, the teacher must be free from
institutional censorship or discipline.
- The Responsibilities of Scholars:
Academic freedom carries with it a concomitant responsibility of scholars to resist
corrupting influences on their research and teaching, to transcend partisanship and
prejudice, and to foster intellectually vigorous and open discussion within the classroom,
adhering to the highest norms and standards of scholarly inquiry and teaching. In their
academic duties, faculty are responsible to further the learning of students and should
avoid statements and actions that may inhibit students’ freedom of inquiry and
expression, thereby compromising the university’s most fundamental values.
- The Rights of Universities:
Academic freedom requires the institutional autonomy of universities, which enables them
to preserve the human record of knowledge and ideas, to advance the discovery and
interpretation of new knowledge, to educate students, and to serve the larger society.
This autonomy includes the right of the university to determine for itself, on academic
grounds, who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be
admitted to study. Likewise, this institutional autonomy should determine the framework
for statutory provisions that govern or impact universities.
- The Responsibilities of Universities
Academic institutions bear a heavy responsibility to protect the scholars and students who
work within them from improper pressures, whether political, cultural, economic, or
ideological. Universities must maintain and encourage freedom of inquiry, discourse,
teaching, research, and publication, and they must protect all members of the academic
staff and student body against external and internal influences that might restrict the
exercise of these freedoms.
The Operational Meaning of Academic Freedom
Though national
realities inevitably shape perspectives on the meaning and practice of academic freedom,
at minimum, the performance and expressions of faculty in the classroom and other
educational settings must be subject solely to the professional judgment of scholarly
colleagues. Freedom of expression inside and outside the classroom must be strongly
defended by the university, regardless of the popularity or content of the views
expressed. It is essential that each university have established guidelines and procedures
that address and safeguard academic freedom. The structure of relationships,
responsibilities, and accountabilities among the constituents of the institution
(students, faculty, administrators, and trustees or governing council) should be of a
nature that facilitates the full implementation of and respect for such guidelines and
procedures.
Although academic freedom can be threatened from a variety of sources, both internal and
external to the academic community, historically the most fundamental threats to academic
freedom have come from the state, whose political power and disposition to regulate often
stands in opposition to the university’s need for institutional autonomy.
Common practices and institutions of civil society may also threaten the integrity of
academic freedom. For example, the pressures and lures of commercial initiatives and
alliances, or attacks by outside groups on the freedom of the academy (particularly, but
not only, in periods of national crisis), can seriously threaten the autonomy of
universities and the academic freedom of their faculty and students. Universities must be
free of obligation to external groups, alumni, community leaders, the media, or other
elements of civil society who may object to or seek the suppression of viewpoints
expressed by faculty members, students, public speakers, and others who participate in the
academic and educational activities of universities.
University authorities themselves, by bending to political pressures or popular will, can
also weaken the environment of academic freedom within the university, stifling student
dissent or the unpopular views of controversial professors. In addition, disciplinary
orthodoxy in some academic fields may pose a threat to the university’s environment of
free dialogue by compelling scholars or students to conform to established lines of
thought. Among the most important mechanisms for maintaining scholarly standards and
protecting academic freedom are peer-review systems that determine how research is funded,
conducted, and results published, but peer review systems must never be allowed to become
vehicles to enforce blind adherence to dominant viewpoints or silence those perspectives
that deviate from established, orthodox ideas.
It is our hope that the principles set forth in this document will help to clarify the
nature of academic freedom, reaffirm its value, strengthen its practice, and resist
threats to the academic freedom of scholars, students and universities around the world.
The statement above was prepared by a committee of The Global Colloquium of
University Presidents and has been endorsed by:
Kwadwo ASENSO-OKYERE, University of Ghana
Lee C. BOLLINGER, Columbia University
Gavin BROWN, University of Sydney
G.K. CHADHA, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Bernard COULIE, Université catholique de Louvain
Richard DESCOINGS, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
Ali DOĐRAMACI, Bilkent Üniversitesi
Matthew GOLDSTEIN, The City University of New York
Renato GUARINI, Universita degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
Amy GUTMANN, University of Pennsylvania
John HOOD, University of Oxford
Guillermo JAIM-ETECHEVERRY, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Nabeel KASSIS, Birzeit University
Dieter LENZEN, Freie Universitat Berlin
Richard LEVIN, Yale University
Njabulo NDEBELE, University of Cape Town
Tunçalp ÖZGEN, Hacettepe Üniversitesi
Itamar RABINOVICH, Tel Aviv University
Alison RICHARD, University of Cambridge
Frank van der Duyn SCHOUTEN, Tilburg University
John SEXTON, New York University
Shirley TILGHMAN, Princeton University
Naoto YOSHIKAWA, Hawaii Tokai International College
|
