While academic freedom is based on the traditional cornerstones of the freedom of inquiry and research, it sometimes yields a public relations nightmare or challenges from state legislatures.

Ward Churchill, a Native American studies professor at the University of Colorado, outraged many and may lose his job because he wrote an essay three years ago saying those who died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center were to blame for the tragedy.

And then there was Harvard University president Lawrence Summers. Earlier this year, when Summers questioned the scientific aptitude of women, he made many wonder what type of expression is proper in a university setting.

While UC Davis has not found itself in the national spotlight for such controversies, campus leaders say that protecting academic freedom is an ongoing battle, especially when the issue extends beyond provocative, headline-grabbing speech to practical issues like research resources.

Research matters

"Under the laws of the state of California, UC faculty members have the opportunity to be insulated and isolated from political and social pressures," said Jerold Theis, a microbiology professor and chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate committee on academic freedom and responsibility. "This allows the institution to educate students and conduct research that ultimately benefits society."

Theis says that academic freedom means much more to faculty at public institutions like UC Davis than it does for professors at private institutions or researchers at the National Institutes of Health, where research is carried out, in his words, "by a top-down management style."

The difference, Theis says, is that researchers here are theoretically free to pursue their own inquiries. The problem is that grant funding involves an increasing amount of regulations with "strings attached" that may inhibit free inquiry.

Theis said the Academic Senate and the administration are working on an institutional response to new federal research guidelines issued in 2003 that cover "integrity and misconduct in research." In fact, Theis said, every UC campus has been told it needs to revise its policy in this area.

Catherine VandeVoort, chair of the Academic Federation and an adjunct professor at the School of Medicine, notes that in recent years, especially in relation to security technology research, a few federal research grant programs have made "publishing any resulting research data contingent on the approval of the agency."

Politics and beliefs

Politics, not so much research policy, is the hot button issue for legislators. Last year, state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, introduced a bill that would require public universities to adopt policies that protect students from political and religious indoctrination in the classroom.

The bill is now "dead," according to Matthew Hargrove, director of government and community relations at UC Davis. But it was worrisome enough that the UC-wide Academic Senate issued a statement that the proposed legislation would encroach into areas over which faculty should have exclusive control, such as classroom teaching.

Barbara Horwitz, vice provost for academic personnel, says that academic freedom permits faculty members to "present ideas and views that may be controversial, or even offensive to some, in order to stimulate discussion and a meaningful exchange of information, including evidence both in support and against ideas and concepts."

She notes that the concept is described in Academic Personnel Policy 010, which was revised in 2003. UC President Robert Sproul first issued the original UC statement on academic freedom in 1934.

Today, Horwitz says, academic freedom applies to situations in which a faculty member is writing or speaking as part of the academic community. "Academic freedom encourages the exchange of new ideas and concepts," said Horwitz, "and it provides protection to faculty who want to express ideas that may be controversial."

However, she noted, this protection comes with the responsibility to not present views in a way that intimidates others. "There is nothing wrong with throwing out provocative ideas in a classroom or at a meeting, like Summers did, as long as the audience knows that if they disagree, their responses will be treated respectfully."

At UC Davis, the Principles of Community serve as guidance for such expression, she says.

"As academics, often called upon as experts in our field, we need to be mindful of the power that our statements can carry, and therefore, we need to be cautious with the statements we make, and not use them to intimidate or stifle others," said Horwitz.

In cases like Churchill's, where the Colorado professor published his comments in a non-university publication, Horwitz said his statement would be covered by academic freedom if he wrote his remarks as an expert.

"However, if he wrote as an individual and his writing had nothing to do with his disciplinary teaching or research," she added, "then I would consider it freedom of speech."

The University of Colorado is not investigating whether the professor had the right to express himself — he does under the First Amendment — but instead allegations that he misidentified his ethnic background in his employment papers.

If academic freedom were restricted, Horwitz said, "our ability to question dogma, to advance new and sometimes provocative ideas and concepts, and to generate new knowledge would be severely limited."

Students and lecturers

VandeVoort says academic freedom is beneficial for students, too. "These freedoms make it possible for the university to educate students and the public and advance knowledge," she said. "The UC policy on academic freedom discusses how these freedoms 'foster in students a mature independence of mind.'"

Indeed, students are part of the academic freedom mix now. The UC-wide Committee on Academic Freedom recently discussed the development of a UC policy or statement related to academic freedom for students amid other topics such as "corporate influence on research."

Like Horwitz, VandeVoort says academic freedom comes with responsibilities. It does not cover an opinion "unrelated to the subject of the class or their research and is outside of the business they perform for the university," she says.

VandeVoort believes that academic freedom increasingly faces challenges from forces outside the university. "Academics are increasingly subjected to political, religious and other external pressures," she said. "Modern communication technologies allow for rapid distribution of these types of episodes. Although such statements by faculty members have probably occurred for centuries, it is only now that they can become international news within hours."