Academic Freedom

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Evolution Of The UC Conflict Of Commitment Policy

William J. Drummond
2003

On July 1, 2001, the University of California Office of the President instituted a new set of rules designed to curb excessive moonlighting, or in academic parlance, "conflict of commitment" in terms of the time and effort professors devoted to their jobs. This paper examines the background and development of this policy.

SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION AND PEER REVIEW Moving towards Utopia by C. Judson King CSHE 4.19 (July 2019)

C. Judson King
2019

Movement to fully open-access electronic scholarly publication has been hampered by the conflicting interests of universities, private publishers, researchers themselves, and those who fund research. The situation interacts strongly with traditions regarding peer review and the ways in which researchers establish stature within their fields. Progress to date has led to seemingly awkward and probably transient systems of dual publication or dual publication status, including green, gold, and hybrid open access. There are also efforts to establish pay-to-publish as the standard model to...

Californians Redefine Academic Freedom

Martin Trow
2005

This position paper discusses the changes to the UC Academic Senate’s regulations on academic freedom and on policies for teaching potentially contentious or political issues, arguing that the new regulation has not been adequately considered in light of its detrimental effect on academic standards. Whereas previously the university’s policy had stated that faculty were not to use their teaching to “convert” students, the new regulation relies on individual instructors’ “competence” and allows for their politically committed viewpoints instead of establishing any guidelines for...

Universities as Truthsayers

John Aubrey Douglass
2025

With the rise of neo-nationalist movements and a global trend toward autocratic-learning governments, how might universities innovate to be more engaged and influential in combating attacks on open societies and, more generlaly, promote functional democracies?

Neo-Nationalism and Universities: Populists, Autocrats and the Future of Higher Education

John Aubrey Douglass
2021

The rise of neo-nationalism is having a profound and troubling impact on leading national universities and the societies they serve. This is the first comparative study of how today’s right-wing populist movements and authoritarian governments are threatening higher education.

Universities have long been at the forefront of both national development and global integration. But the political and policy world in which they operate is undergoing a transition, one that is reflective of a significant change in domestic politics and international relations: a populist turn inward among a...

Intimidation, Silencing, Fear, and Academic Freedom, by Steve Brint, CSHE 4.21 (March 2021)

Steven Brint
2021

The argument of this paper is set against the backdrop of a climate of intimidation, silencing, and fear that surrounds the discussion of several hot-button issues in academe, nowadays mainly having to do with race. An important and painful feature of this situation is that people on both sides of the issue feel vulnerable. The contribution of this paper is to help all involved to understand what academic freedom means and how it supports or fails to support the expression of controversial views. I show that a climate hostile to academic freedom is not an academic freedom issue per se. It...

Two City-States in the Long Shadow of China: The Future of Universities in Hong Kong and Singapore by Bryan Penprase and John Aubrey Douglass CSHE 10.21 (September 2021)

Bryan Penprase
John Aubrey Douglass
2021

Hong Kong and Singapore are island city-states that exude the complicated tensions of postcolonial nationalism. Both are influenced directly or indirectly by the long shadow of China’s rising nationalism and geopolitical power and, in the case of Hong Kong, subject to Beijing’s edicts under the terms of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Both have productive economies dependent on global trade, and each has similar rates of population density--Hong Kong’s population is 7.4 million and Singapore is home to 5.8 million people. It remains to be seen whether Hong Kong’s peripheral...

The University of California’s Faculty Code of Conduct at Fifty: A Procedural and Sociological History of UC’s Evolving Ecosystem of Policies, Rules and Norms for Faculty Discipline, by William C. Kidder, CSHE 12.21 (December 2021)

Wiliam C. Kidder
2021

The occasion of the 50th anniversary of the University of California’s Faculty Code of Conduct is an opportune time for this unique CSHE paper, which documents the web of policies, rules, procedures, norms and institutional actors related to faculty discipline at UC campuses, including the socio-political context of successful and unsuccessful reform efforts across the decades. Compared to other spheres of college and university governance, rules and norms for disciplining faculty misconduct are less frequently the subject of sustained attention by scholars of higher education....

ROPS Special Thematic Issue: Reflections on the Challenges of Representation and Academic Freedom

2023

CSHE is devoted to supporting open and civil debate on key issues facing higher education. The ROPS contribution posted below by Steven Brint and Komi Frey discusses the University of California policies and practices of using DEI statements in the hiring and advancement of faculty, and how these policies and practices intersect with academic freedom as well as broader issues related to the contemporary academic culture of universities—what some may view as a controversial issue within the academy.

Because the editors of ROPS anticipated differing views regarding their analysis, and...

Here and Abroad, Universities Face an Autocratic Playbook. Academe (AAUP Publication), November 2023

John Aubrey Douglass
2023