430.6    ACADEMIC FREEDOM

            430.6.1

            The District Governing Board and the Administration of Coconino Community College support the concept that instructors are free to pursue scholarly inquiry without undue restriction, and to voice and to publish their conclusions concerning the significance of evidence they consider relevant.  Such employees will be free from the corrosive fear that others, inside or outside the District, may threaten their professional careers or the material benefits accruing from those careers.  They are also entitled to freedom in the classroom in presenting the subject they teach and shall be free to select and use textbooks through the institutionally recognized process, but should be careful not to introduce controversial matter which has no relation to the subject. 

            430.6.2

            The College teacher is a citizen, a member of a learned profession, and an officer of an educational institution.  When he or she speaks or writes as a citizen, he/she should be free from censorship or discipline, but his/her special position in the community poses special obligations.  As a person of learning and an educational officer, he/she needs to remember that the public may judge the profession and the institution by his/her utterances.  Hence he/she should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, and should make every effort to indicate that he/she is not an institutional spokesperson.¹

            430.6.3

            The College's administrative policies and procedures will reflect and recognize the day-to-day application of the instructor's professional judgment and goodwill.

¹               References:

                North Central Accreditation

                AAUP - 1940 Statement of Principles and Interpretive Comments

                Association of American Colleges