The debates about school funding and academic freedom have
University of California teachers and lecturers waiting for an
opinion from the recently shifting U.S. Supreme Court, according to
the California Teachers Association.
Professors’ freedom in the classroom have been protected
based on past Court rulings, but some are concerned new legislation
could put that in jeopardy.
In 1987, the US Supreme Court ruled that the First
Amendment’s establishment clause protected faculty
members’ academic freedom. Faculty cannot be fired or have
their tenure revoked over what they cover in class.
“Individual instructors are at liberty to teach that which
they deem to be appropriate in the exercise of their professional
judgement,” according to Supreme Court case Aguillard v.
Edwards.
The ruling has meant that UCLA faculty, and other teachers in
higher education, have had control over topics covered in their
classes.
John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit
civil liberties and human rights organization, said protection for
teachers is important to maintaining the educational integrity of
universities.
“It is the collective freedom of the faculty members to
teach free from pressure, penalties or other threats by authorities
or other persons inside or outside their institutions of
learning,” he wrote in a 2004 article, “Academic
Freedom and The Rights of Religious Faculty.”
However, laws are being proposed in the legislatures of other
states that could reach the Supreme Court and affect UC professors
and lecturers.
Faculty protection for comments made in the classroom could be
in jeopardy if David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights is
approved through state legislatures, said Mitchell Chang, a
professor at the graduate school of education and information
studies.
“If passed, the students would have the ability to sue
their professors personally if a balanced perspective was not
offered in class,” Chang said. “Teachers unions would
definitely pursue the issue in court ““ it would weaken the
protection insured by tenure.”
Proposition 75, which Californians will vote on in the Nov. 8
special election, would restrict public employee union dues from
being used for political contributions, also has many teachers
unions worried.
“California tends to be a more liberal state, but if the
union dues proposition passes, I am sure that one will be
challenged,” said Frank Wells, communication consultant for
the CTA.