Open letter to CAUT regarding AUCC’s Statement on Academic Freedom

Mr. Wayne D. Peters
President,
Canadian Association of University Teachers

Mr. James L. Turk
Executive Director,
Canadian Association of University Teachers
2705 Queensview Drive
Ottawa, ON K2B 8K2

Subject: Open letter to the Canadian Association of University Teachers

Dear Mr. Peters and Mr. Turk,

Thank you for your letter of November 4, 2011, in response to AUCC’s new Statement on Academic Freedom. We welcome this dialogue on the definition and protection of academic freedom at Canada’s universities.

This statement is the result of a rigorous and thoughtful process. It began with an in-depth discussion involving 35 university presidents and vice presidents in December, 2010. Following a further dialogue by the AUCC membership in April, 2011, our Standing Advisory Committee on the Act and Bylaws drafted the new statement. These committee members brought to the process vast experience as faculty members and academic leaders. The new statement was approved by our board of directors in June, 2011 and unanimously adopted by the membership on Oct. 25, 2011.

AUCC’s statement is grounded in the belief that academic freedom is an enduring and central value for Canadian universities.

We believe that academic freedom exists for a purpose — supporting the role of universities in a democratic society to pursue truth and communicate truth to others — and must further that purpose.

As this new statement makes clear, we also believe academic freedom must be constrained by rigorous standards of research and guided by reason and the professional standards of enquiry in a discipline. We have confidence in the peer review process and the standards of research and teaching in our academic disciplines. We do not share your concern that these processes and standards may not apply to “ideas at the margin or ideas that are critical of the mainstream.” Our position is based on the rigor of inquiry, not the outcome.

The responsibility of an institution to organize its mission is an appropriate constraint on academic freedom. For example, a university’s responsibility to schedule classes and exams and prepare the academic calendar should not be encumbered by a loose definition of academic freedom.

Academic freedom is quite different, therefore, from the broader concepts of freedom of speech or freedom of expression, which apply to all Canadians. The right of anyone to make external utterances is protected in the Canadian Constitution; our Statement on Academic Freedom is focused on what takes place in an academic setting.

Your letter is critical that our statement does not specifically refer to “service.” AUCC’s statement is deliberately focused on teaching and research. The aspects of service which relate to teaching and research are naturally protected by academic freedom.

It is important to note that the definition of academic freedom is continually evolving; it is not a static concept fixed in time, but one that responds to changing circumstances and realities. Your response refers to the 1915 AAUP Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure. It should be noted that this statement was revised in 1925, reviewed from 1934 to 1940, and substantially revised in 1940. Further interpretive comments were also added since that time. In 1945, the statement added an emphasis on the special responsibilities inherent in academic freedom. Since 1915, statements on external utterances have also been issued which make clear the circumstances under which these can be used or judged.

It should also be noted that the Harry Crowe case which you cite was based not only on an understanding of academic freedom. The CAUT panel also found that due process and natural justice had been breached in this instance. These protections under Canadian law, as well as protections under collective agreements, protect the rights of Canadian faculty.

AUCC’s Statement on Academic Freedom was developed through a sound process. It recognizes that with rights come responsibilities. We anticipate that it will be the basis for meaningful dialogue within the collegial environments of our university communities.

Sincerely,

Stephen J. Toope
Chair, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

Paul Davidson
President, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada