[This is a policy statement from the American Association of
University Professors. As with all AAUP policy statements, it is in
the public domain. For a comprehensive collection of AAUP statements
see _Policy Documents & Reports_ by the American Association of
University Professors]
Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students
In June, 1967, a joint committee, comprised of representatives from
the American Association of University Professors, U. S. National
Student Association, Association of American Colleges, National
Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and National
Association of Woman Deans and Counselors, met in Washington, D.C.,
and drafted the Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students
published below.
Since its formulation, the Joint Statement has been endorsed by each
of its five national sponsors, as well as by a number of other
professional bodies. The Association's Council approved the Statement
in October, 1967, and the Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting endorsed it as
Association policy.
Preamble
Academic institutions exist for the transmission of knowledge, the
pursuit of truth, the development of students, and the general
well-being of society. Free inquiry and free expression are
indispensable to the attainment of these goals. As members of the
academic community, students should be encouraged to develop the
capacity for critical judgment and to engage in a sustained and
independent search for truth. Institutional procedures for achieving
these purposes may vary from campus to campus, but the minimal
standards of academic freedom of students outlined below are essential
to any community of scholars.
Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of
academic freedom. The freedom to learn depends upon appropriate
opportunities and conditions in the classroom, on the campus, and in
the larger community Students should exercise their freedom with
responsibility.
The responsibility to secure and to respect general conditions
conductive to the freedom to learn is shared by all members of the
academic community. Each college and university has a duty to develop
policies and procedures which provide and safeguard this freedom. Such
policies and procedures should be developed at each institution within
the framework of general standards and with the broadest possible
participation of the members of the academic community. The purpose of
this statement is to enumerate the essential provisions for student
freedom to learn.
1. Freedom of Access to Higher Education
The admissions policies of each college and university are a matter
of institutional choice provided that each college and university
makes clear the characteristics and expectations of students which it
considers relevant to success in the institution's program. While
church-related institutions may give admission preference to students
of their own persuasion, such a preference should be clearly and
publicly stated. Under no circumstances should a student be barred
from admission of a particular institution on the basis of race. Thus,
within the limits of its facilities, each college and university
should be open to all students who are qualified according to is
admission standards. The facilities and services of a college should
be open to all of its enrolled students, and institutions should use
their influence to secure equal access for all students to public
facilities in the local community.
II. In the Classroom
The professor in the classroom and in conference should encourage
free discussion, inquiry, and expression. Student performance should be
evaluated solely on an academic basis, not on opinions or conduct in
matters unrelated to academic standards.
A. Protection of Freedom of Expression
Students should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or
views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about
matters of opinion, but they are responsible for learning the content
of any course of study for which they are enrolled.
B. Protection against Improper Academic Evaluation
Students should have protection through orderly procedures against
prejudiced or capricious academic evaluation. At the same time, they
are responsible for maintaining standards of academic performance
established for each course in which they are enrolled.
C. Protection against Improper Disclosure
Information about student views, beliefs, and political associations
which professors acquire in the course of their work as instructors,
advisers, and counselors should be considered confidential. Protection
against improper disclosure is a serious professional obligation.
Judgments of ability and character may be provided under appropriate
circumstances, normally with the knowledge or consent of the student.
III. Student Records
Institutions should have a carefully considered policy as to the
information which should be part of a student's permanent educational
record and as to the conditions of its disclosure. To minimize the
risk of improper disclosure, academic and disciplinary record should
be separate, and the conditions of access to each should be set forth
in an explicit policy statement. Transcripts of academic records
should contain only information about academic status. Information
from disciplinary or counseling files should not be available to
unauthorized persons on campus, or to any person off campus without
the express consent of the student involved except under legal
compulsion or in cases where the safety of persons or property is
involved. No records should be kept which reflect the political
activities or beliefs of students. Provisions should also be made for
periodic routine destruction of nonconcurrent disciplinary records.
Administrative staff and faculty members should respect confidential
information about students which they acquire in the course of their
work.
IV. Student Affairs
In student affairs, certain standards must be maintained if the
freedom of students is to be preserved.
A. Freedom of Association
Students bring to the campus a variety of interests previously
acquired and develop many new interests as members of the academic
community. They should be free to organize and join associations to
promote their common interests.
1. The membership, policies, and actions of a student organization
usually will be determined by vote of only those persons who hold bona
fide membership in the college or university community.
2. Affiliation with an extramural organization should not of itself
disqualify a student organization from institutional recognition.
3. If campus advisers are required, each organization should be free
to choose its own adviser, and institutional recognition should not be
withheld or withdrawn solely because of the inability of a student
organization to secure an advisor. Campus advisers may advise
organizations in the exercise of responsibility, but they should not
have the authority to control the policy of such organizations.
4. Student organizations may be required to submit a statement of
purpose, criteria for membership, rules of procedures, and a current
list of officers. They should not be required to submit a membership
list as a condition of institutional recognition.
5. Campus organizations, including those affiliated with an
extramural organization, should be open to all students without
respect to race, creed, or national origin, except for religious
qualifications which may be required by organizations whose aims are
primarily sectarian.
B. Freedom of Inquiry and Expression
1. Students and student organizations should be free to examine and
discuss all questions of interest to them, and to express opinions
publicly and privately. They should always be free to support causes
by orderly means which do not disrupt the regular and essential
operation of the institution. At the same time, it should be made
clear to the academic and the larger community that in their public
expressions or demonstrations students or student organizations speak
only for themselves.
2. Students should be allowed to invite and to hear any person of
their own choosing. Those routine procedures required by an
institution before a guest speaker is invited to appear on campus
should be designed only to insure that there is orderly scheduling of
facilities and adequate preparation for the event, and that the
occasion is conducted in a manner appropriate to an academic
community. The institutional control of campus facilities should not
be used as a device of censorship. It should be made clear to the
academic and larger community that sponsorship of guest speakers does
not necessarily imply approval or endorsement of the views expressed,
either by the sponsoring group or the institution.
C. Student Participation in Institutional Government
As constituents of the academic community, students should be
free, individually and collectively, to express their views on issues
of institutional policy and on matters of general interest to the
student body. The student body should have clearly defined means to
participate in the formulation and application of institutional policy
affecting academic and student affairs. The role of the student
government and both its general and specific responsibilities should
be made explicit, and the actions of the student government within the
areas of its jurisdiction should be reviewed only through orderly and
prescribed procedures.
D. Student Publications
Student publications and the student press are a valuable aid in
establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of free and responsible
discussion and of intellectual exploration on the campus. They are a
means of bringing student concerns to the attention of the faculty and
the institutional authorities and of formulating student opinion on
various issues on the campus and in the world at large.
Whenever possible the student newspaper should be an
independent corporation financially and legally separate
from the university. Where financial and legal autonomy
is not possible, the institution, as the publisher of student
publications, may have to bear the legal responsibility for
the contents of the publications. In the delegation of
editorial responsibility to students, the institution must
provide sufficient editorial freedom and financial autonomy
for the student publications to maintain their integrity of
purpose as vehicles for free inquiry and free expression
in an academic community.
Institutional authorities, in consultation with students and
faculty, have a responsibility to provide written clarification of the
role of the student publications, the standards to be used in their
evaluation, and the limitations on external control of their
operation. At the same time, the editorial freedom of student editors
and managers entails corollary responsibilities to be governed by the
canons of responsible journalism, such as the avoidance of libel,
indecency, undocumented allegations, attacks on personal integrity,
and the techniques of harassment and innuendo. As safeguards for the
editorial freedom of student publications the following provisions are
necessary.
1. The student press should be free of censorship and advance
approval of copy, and its editors and managers should be free to
develop their own editorial policies and news coverage.
2. Editors and managers of student publications should be protected
from arbitrary suspension and removal because of student, faculty,
administrative, or public disapproval of editorial policy or content.
Only for proper and stated causes should editors and managers be
subject to removal and then by orderly and prescribed procedures. The
agency responsible for the appointment of editors and managers should
be the agency responsible for their removal.
3. All university published and financed student publications should
explicitly state on the editorial page that the opinions there
expressed are not necessarily those of the college, university, or
student body.
V. Off-Campus Freedom of Students
A. Exercise of Rights of Citizenship
College and university students are both citizens and members of the
academic community. As citizens, students should enjoy the same
freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and right of petition that other
citizens enjoy and, as members of the academic community, they are
subject to the obligations which accrue to them by virtue of this
membership. Faculty members and administrative officials should insure
that institutional powers are not employed to inhibit such
intellectual and personal development of students as is often promoted
by their exercise of the rights of citizenship both on and off campus.
B. Institutional Authority and Civil Penalties
Activities of students may upon occasion result in violation of law.
In such cases, institutional officials should be prepared to apprise
students of sources of legal counsel and may offer other assistance.
Students who violate the law may incur penalties prescribed by civil
authorities, but institutional authority should never be used merely
to duplicate the function of general laws. Only where the institutions
interests as an academic community are distinct and clearly involved
should the special authority of the institution be asserted. The
student who incidentally violates institutional regulations in the
course of his off-campus activity, such as those relating to class
attendance, should be subject to no greater penalty than would
normally be imposed. Institutional action should be independent of
community pressure.
VI. Procedural Standards in Disciplinary
Proceedings
In developing responsible student conduct, disciplinary
proceedings play a role substantially secondary to
example, counseling, guidance, and admonition. At the same
time, educational institutions have a duty and the
corollary disciplinary powers to protect their educational
purpose through the setting of standards of scholarship and
conduct for the students who attend them and through
the regulation of the use of institutional facilities. In the
exceptional circumstances when the preferred means fail
to resolve problems of student conduct, proper procedural
safeguards should be observed to protect the student from
the unfair imposition of serious penalties.
The administration of discipline should guarantee procedural
fairness to an accused student. Practices in disciplinary cases may
vary in formality with the gravity of the offense and the sanctions
which may be applied. They should also take into account the presence
or absence of an honor code, and the degree to which the institutional
officials have direct acquaintance with student life in general and
with the involved student and the circumstances of the case in
particular. The jurisdictions of faculty or student judicial bodies,
the disciplinary responsibilities of institutional officials and the
regular disciplinary procedures, including the student's right to
appeal a decision, should be clearly formulated and communicated in
advance. Minor penalties may be assessed informally under prescribed
procedures.
In all situations, procedural fair play requires that the student be
informed of the nature of the charges against him, that he be given a
fair opportunity to refute them, that the institution not be arbitrary
in its actions, and that there be provision for appeal of a decision.
The following are recommended as proper safeguards in such proceedings
when there are no honor codes offering comparable guarantees.
A. Standards of Conduct Expected of Students
The institution has an obligation to clarify those standards of
behavior which it considers essential to its educational mission and
its community life. These general behavioral expectations and the
resultant specific regulations should represent a reasonable
regulation of student conduct, but the student should be as free as
possible from imposed limitations that have no direct relevance to his
education. Offenses should be as clearly defined as possible and
interpreted in a manner consistent with the aforementioned principles
of relevance and reasonableness. Disciplinary proceedings should be
instituted only for violations of standards of conduct formulated with
significant student participation and published in advance through
such means as a student handbook or a generally available body of
institutional regulations.
B. Investigation of Student Conduct
1. Except under extreme emergency circumstances, premises occupied
by students and the personal possessions of students should not be
searched unless appropriate authorization has been obtained. For
premises such as residence halls controlled by the institution, an
appropriate and responsible authority should be designated to whom
application should be made before a search is conducted. The
application should specify the reasons for he search and the objects
or information sought. The student should be present, if possible,
during the search. For premises not controlled by the institution,
the ordinary requirements for lawful search should be followed.
2. Students detected or arrested in the course of serious violations
of institutional regulations, or infractions of ordinary law, should
be informed of their rights. No form of harassment should be used by
institutional representatives to coerce admissions of guilt or
information about conduct of other suspected persons.
C. Status of Student Pending Final Action
Pending action on the charges, the status of a student
should not be altered, or his right to be present on the
campus and to attend classes suspended, except for
reasons relating to his physical or emotional safety and
well being, or for reasons relating to the safety and well-being
of students, faculty, or university property.
D. Hearing Committee Procedures
When the misconduct may result in serious penalties and if the
student questions the fairness of disciplinary action taken against
him, he should be granted, on request, the privilege of a hearing
before a regularly constituted hearing committee. The following
suggested hearing committee procedures satisfy the requirements of
procedural due process in situations requiring a high degree of
formality.
1. The hearing committee should include faculty members or students,
or, if regularly included or requested by the accused, both faculty
and student members. No member of the hearing committee who is
otherwise interested in the particular case should sit in judgment
during the proceeding.
2. The student should be informed, in writing of the reasons for the
proposed disciplinary action with sufficient particularity, and in
sufficient time, to insure opportunity to prepare for the hearing.
3. The student appearing before the hearing committee should have the
right to be assisted in his defense by an adviser of his choice.
4. The burden of proof should rest upon the officials bringing the
charge.
5. The student should be given an opportunity to testify and to
present evidence and witnesses. He should have an opportunity to hear
and question adverse witnesses. In no case should the committee
consider statements against him unless he has been advised of their
content and of the names of those who made them, and unless he has
been given an opportunity to rebut unfavorable inferences which might
otherwise be drawn.
6. All matters upon which the decision may be based must be
introduced into evidence at the proceeding before the hearing
committee. The decision should be based solely upon such matters.
Improperly acquired evidence should not be admitted.
7. In the absence of a transcript, there should be both a digest and
a verbatim record, such as a tape recording, of the hearing.
8. The decision of the hearing committee should be final, subject
only to the student's right of appeal to the president or ultimately
to the governing board of the institution.
