Abstract
The present paper aims at analyzing the development of academic freedom in the USA as a part of Constitutional principles. The main objective of this research is to identify legal approaches regarding academic freedom, reveal the positive and negative sides of its development. It is essential to study the professional and legal definition of the term to determine its international context, what the notion of academic freedom means for modern society. The research indicates that modern legal constitutional analysis of academic freedom is incomplete for the protection of the interests of academic society. Constitutionally guaranteed academic freedom is limited by state action doctrine, restriction of the principles of freedom of expression of the public figure and judicial decisions, which gives freedom only to the universities and leaves professors’ interests without protection when their interests are contrary to the university’s interests. Academic freedom guaranteed by the constitution may be incompatible with the concept that implies freely exchanging ideas in the marketplace of ideas, which are likely to be limited by universities. To completely understand and evaluate the importance and purpose of academic freedom, it is necessary to study those cases which led to the establishment of the American Association of University Professors - AAUP and the protection of academic freedom in American universities.
Highlights
Academic Freedom is one of the most significant values of higher education in modern society
After the foundation of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 1915, this statement has been the topic of harsh debates
The research aims to study the problem of academic freedom in the following aspects of US higher education: 1) to determine what was the precondition of the creation of academic freedom concept; 2) to analyze the US Supreme Court's practice and approaches towards the issue based on case studies; 3) to examine how the idea of academic freedom was protected in the past, how it is protected nowadays and in general, how the systemic changes affect the education system; 4) to study the stages of development of academic freedom from the beginning of the previous century and determine how much the enjoyment of academic freedom is protected
Summary
Academic Freedom is one of the most significant values of higher education in modern society. 2. Systemic – to identify the place of the issue within the legal system, an analysis will be conducted based on statements, policy documents and investigations of American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (AAUP's 1915 Declaration of Principles) since 1915 that identified how the notion of academic freedom developed. The text of the document begins with the explanation of the university mission statement (1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure) and is noted that the existence of HEIs aims at common good and not the interests of individual teachers or university and the common good "depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition." Academic freedom is essential for these purposes and includes the following: 1) “full freedom in research and the publication of the results; 2) professors’ freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject and 3) freedom to speak to citizens without institutional censorship” (O’Neil 2008, 11). That was followed by the 1994 document ‘Statement on the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom’, which condemned punishment by the administration the members of the faculty who spoke about the violation of academic freedom (1994 Statement on the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom)
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