Standard Number 3.7.4: The institution ensures adequate procedures for the safeguard and protection of academic freedom.

Full Compliance

Georgia Southern University is committed to ensuring the protection and safeguard of academic freedom. The University demonstrates this commitment by publishing and widely disseminating its philosophy on academic freedom as well as the procedures for addressing perceived wrongs. The Faculty Senate approved a revised statement of academic freedom on June 2, 1998 . This statement was subsequently approved by the University's President and has been annually published in every Georgia Southern Faculty Handbook since the 1998-99 academic year. The Faculty Handbook is distributed to all full-time faculty at the beginning of each academic year and is also maintained on the web site of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Georgia Southern University's statement on academic freedom reads in part: “Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interests of either the individual or the institution. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning.” Georgia Southern's statement goes on to say: “Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing issues relevant to their subject.” (The complete text is found in the Faculty Handbook , § 201, p. 27.)

To safeguard and protect its faculty's right to academic freedom, the University's Statutes (Article IV, § 4) established the Faculty Grievance Committee . The purpose of the Faculty Grievance Committee is to conduct inquiries into faculty grievances and to make recommendations to the Provost, following established faculty grievance procedures (see Faculty Handbook , § 219.02, pp. 44-46). According to these procedures, an aggrieved faculty member is asked to first seek redress in consultation with his or her department chair. If the grievance is not resolved at the department level, he or she then seeks redress in consultation with the dean of the appropriate college. If these efforts likewise prove unsuccessful, prior to considering the complaint, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs will meet together with the complainant and the chair of the Faculty Grievance Committee for the purpose of outlining a path to be followed in resolving this complaint. It then rests with the faculty member to decide whether to pursue the complaint with the Faculty Grievance Committee or whether to allow the Provost to act upon it. The faculty grievance procedures clearly outline the next steps to be followed in resolving complaints regardless of which action is ultimately decided upon by the faculty member. If the grievance is forwarded to the Faculty Grievance Committee, that Committee follows established procedure to make a recommendation to the Provost both orally and in writing. The Committee also sends the aggrieved faculty member a letter stating the Committee's recommendation. If dissatisfied with the recommendation of the Faculty Grievance Committee or with the subsequent action of the Provost, who is authorized by the President to render the final institutional decision on the grievance, the aggrieved faculty may appeal that decision directly to the Board of Regents pursuant to Article VIII of the Bylaws of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

⁴⁸ Furthermore, Board of Regents policy defines dismissal for cause as willful or intentional violation of the policies of the Board of Regents or the approved statutes of an institution (see Board of Regents Policy Manual , § 803.11).

⁴⁹ Based on the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure , American Association of University Professors.

⁵⁰ The Georgia Southern University Faculty Grievance Procedures were approved by the Faculty Senate on May 24, 1995 , and amended June 30, 1999 .

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