Solano Community College District Policies

Academic Affairs Policies
Series 6000

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ACADEMIC FREEDOM 6430

POLICY:
The Solano Community College District affirms its belief in the academic freedom of its full and part-time faculty and students to engage in any campus or off-campus teaching, studying, research, writing, and criticism deemed appropriate by such individuals to the spirit of free inquiry and the pursuit of truth.

As stated in American Freedom and Tenure, 1969 (Handbook of American Association of University Professors):

. . . academic freedom consists in the absence of, or protection from, such restraints or pressures -- chiefly in the form of sanctions, threatened by the state or church authorities or by the authorities, faculties, or students of colleges and universities, but occasionally also by other power groups in society -- as are designed to create in the minds of academic scholars (teachers, research workers, and students in colleges and universities) fears and anxieties that may inhibit them from freely studying and investigating whatever they are interested in, and from freely discussing, teaching, or publishing whatever opinions they have reached.

Since these rights of academic freedom carry responsibilities with them, each faculty member and student should strive to be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and will indicate that he or she does not speak, necessarily for the College.

REFERENCES/
AUTHORITY:
California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 51023;
Accreditation Standard 2.2


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Policy 6430


ADOPTED: December 19, 1984
REVISED: January 17, 2007