Argues that professionalization is needed to help teachers improve their status and attain better compensation and a greater voice in decision making. Calls for a national teacher examination; expanding choice for parents, students, and teachers; a professional teacher board; a different kind of career ladder; and restructuring the delivery of…

Discussed is a court case in which a journalism teacher filed suit against a two year college alleging that the students' civil rights had been violated because the college had eliminated the student newspaper. The court allowed the teacher third-party standing to defend the rights of the students. (RM)

Summarizes major court cases that have provided some sense of the extent to which teachers may legitimately select course content and teaching methods. (RBW)

Although school boards have the authority to order a teacher to undergo a medical examination, the board's concern should be only with the teacher's fitness. Policy guidelines are offered that protect a teacher's right to due process. (MLF)

Academic freedom is an elusive concept. Many university and college faculty members who purport to possess its protections believe they have a solid understanding of its nature and of the individual rights secured by academic freedom. There is some consensus on the meaning of the term in the academic universe. This concurrence of understanding is…

The Constitution of the Minnesota Community College Faculty Association (MCCFA) was approved on May 1, 1999. Included is a description of MCCFA's purpose, conditions for membership, organizational structure, and selection processes for officers and members of the Board of Directors. Affiliated with the National Education Association, Education…

Discusses judicial decisions bearing on the nature of academic freedom as a constitutional right of public school teachers. Summarizes cases that recognize a teacher's right to teach contrary to the wishes of school authorities, and cases that uphold the state's right to control the public school curriculum. (SR)

The American Association of University Professors has censured the administrations of five colleges (Chowan College, Dean Junior College, Wesley College, New Community College of Baltimore, and Loma Linda University) for breaches of faculty rights. Censure was lifted for the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Northern Colorado, Sonoma…

This study examined the collective bargaining goals of 1,800 faculty members at 8 Canadian universities, with focus on the relationship of goals to traditional academic governance. Findings indicated that faculty distinguish between academic and nonacademic issues and choose to restrict bargaining to issues involving money, job security, and…

Although the 1976 copyright law provides teachers with specific rights and defenses concerning classroom use of copyrighted materials, litigation by publishers has affected college policies. Teachers should be educated concerning assertion of their rights, which will be lost if they are not used. Also, greater protection should be assured by…

As a policy pronouncement, California's Proposition 227 mandates a duty of care that educators owe their students. Failure to teach primarily in English creates a private cause of action against an educator that overcomes legal and policy concerns of "Peter W. v. San Francisco Unified School District." (Contains 57 notes and references.)

Examines the civil rights claims raised by a university coach claiming he was forced to resign because he refused to wear contracted Nike apparel. Explores the state of the law regarding restrictions on private employers' control of employees' political activities, and asserts that to make up for the lack of legal protection, employers should…

Historian Joan Wallach Scott has served on the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure since 1993. She was committee chair from 1999 until this past June, when she became a consultant to the committee. To mark her transition from chair to consultant, "Academe" asked her to participate in an interview about her experience with the…

Newly hired teachers regularly have questions about whether their lifestyles and actions outside of school could have repercussions on their career. Because they are expected to be role models for their students and thus held to a higher level of discretion than the general citizenry, educators have had restrictions placed on their living…

This paper addresses the legal tension between a teacher's right to privacy and a school board's right to demand exemplary conduct by teachers in and out of school. The watershed case in the area of a teacher's right to a private life appears to be "Morrison v. Board of Education" (California 1969), which identified factors that a board may…