August 31, 2006
Academic freedom is essential to American higher education. Despite its importance it is not well understood and is often maligned outside of educational circles. The Christian University in particular walks a fine line between encouraging free inquiry into the problems that all Christians must face in a secular world and being true to our heritage of faith and responsible to our church constituency.
Academic freedom can be defined in several ways. The Missouri Baptist University Faculty Handbook states that, “faculty members are entitled to freedom of inquiry and discussion of their disciplines in the classroom and in the conducting of research in their discipline.” It goes on to say that “when speaking or acting as private persons they avoid creating the impression that they speak or act for their institution.”
The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools look for evidence that, “the board has approved and disseminated statements supporting freedom of inquiry for the organization’s students, faculty, and staff, and honors those statements in its practices” for purposes of providing accreditation.
Arthur Holmes in his book The Idea of a Christian College has defined it as “the freedom of the teacher to teach, of the students to learn, and of the college to be an educational institution.” Ben Fisher , former president of the Southern Baptist Convention Education Commission defined it as , “the right of the teacher to exercise full freedom in research and publication of the findings, full freedom to discuss his subject in the classroom, and full freedom to speak as a citizen without institutional censorship.”
To someone not accustomed to living in an educational environment this might at first seem to suggest an “anything goes” approach. That is far from the case. Within our own tradition we have long accepted that freedom is never absolute, that it is limited by our Christian belief. It is also limited by the fact that an institution has an incontestable right to fulfill the purpose for which it was founded, in our case liberal arts education from a Christian perspective. Further, a convincing argument can be made that freedom and faith go hand in hand. In fact the central thrust of Biblical religion lies in the direction of freedom. Neither faith nor intellect can be forced. Students need to grapple with issues in the light of Christian faith and thought and not merely be indoctrinated with all the correct answers. If all truth is God’s truth then Christians should be the freest people in the world to explore that truth with no fear of what might be discovered.
In the light of our belief and our purpose then we might define academic freedom more accurately as the freedom to explore the truth in a careful and responsible fashion. Holmes calls this a form of “liberty under law.” “Law gives order and direction to liberty, protecting it against abuses from right and left, guiding and safeguarding its proper use. The Christian educator cannot forget that his responsibility is not only to society and the church, to his students and colleagues, but also and primarily to the truth. He is constantly impressed with the fact that the Scriptures aid rather than hinder the quest for truth.”
If we are doing our job we will likely get criticism from both the left and right. Those on the left will say that we cannot be objective and therefore not academically respectable because we lack objectivity. I have for example been chastised by those outside our faith for hiring only Christians and have even been questioned by some for asking for a statement of faith from our faculty. I have been criticized for making the statement that colleges and universities should not be politicized, even though fairness and impartiality is a well ingrained part of American higher education, precisely because of the concept of academic freedom.
From the right, we are often accused of allowing teachers to use academic license to compromise the faith and morals of students by demanding that they think and question. There are those who fear that we will kill rather than strengthen faith by exposing young people to ideas and thoughts that may make them doubt and even discuss those doubts openly. Both approaches devalue the academic task.
Most of our trustees come from backgrounds where they routinely handle complex organizational business and finance decisions. They probably find the educational culture and processes frustrating at times. Most of them were not trained in educational philosophy and the idea of academic freedom is somewhat foreign.
However, it is the central idea in American higher education. University administrators and trustees must protect responsible freedom against all attacks. They must support the right of teachers to teach and the right of students to learn. It is at times a dangerous and painful process but one that yields rewards far beyond what any of us could ever imagine.
— R. Alton Lacey
Fisher, Ben C. An Orientation Manual for Trustees of Church Related Colleges. Nashville: Education Commission of the SBC, 1980.
The Higher Learning Commission Handbook of Accreditation. Chicago: The Higher Learning Commission, 2003.
Hobbs, Herschel H. The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: Convention Press, 1971.
Holmes, Arthur. The Idea of a Christian College. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975.
Missouri Baptist University Personnel Procedures Handbook. 2006
