Announcement of Faculty and Administration
Academic Freedom
Academic freedom is the right of college faculty to interpret their fields and to communicate conclusions without being subject to interference or penalty because these conclusions may be at variance with those of constituted authorities, organized groups or individuals. The Board of Trustees of the Desert Community College District believes that academic freedom of the college faculty is indispensable to the success of the Desert Community College District in fulfilling its obligations to students and society.
It is the policy of the Board of Trustees of the Desert Community College District to recognize the importance of academic freedom in pursuit of academic excellence for the College, consistent with the following:
College faculty are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject. The faculty member has license to present whatever he or she may feel is appropriate and the faculty member’s individual judgment and discretion shall be responsibly exercised.
College faculty are citizens as well as members of the learned professions. When they speak as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline. As persons of learning and members of the College faculty, they must remember that the public may judge their profession and the College by their statements. College faculty should, therefore, make every effort to indicate that when they are speaking or acting as private citizens, they are not speaking or acting for the College. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends upon academic freedom for its health and integrity, College faculty have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further public understanding of academic freedom.
College faculty are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results, subject to adequate performance of their other academic duties.
College faculty will ensure the academic freedom of students: the freedom to express and to defend their views and the freedom to question and to differ with the College faculty or the College without penalty.
The Faculty Code of Professional Ethics
Guided by a profound belief in and respect for the inherent dignity and worth of each individual in the culturally diverse community we serve, the faculty at College of the Desert endeavor to:
- place as their highest priority excellence in teaching, continually striving to improve scholarly and professional competence, maintaining personal and academic integrity, and accepting the role of intellectual guide and facilitator;
- encourage the free pursuit of learning, honoring the confidential nature of the relationship between instructor and student, avoiding exploitation of students for private advantage, and holding before them high scholarly standards for their discipline and appreciation and respect for others;
- accept accountability for maintaining honest academic conduct, high standards of performance, and evaluation that reflects the true merit of students, courses, programs, and services;
- accept the obligations associated with membership in a community of scholars that includes practicing, fostering and defending intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, social responsibility, and respect for the opinion of others;
- acknowledge the rights and obligations associated with the role of citizen within the community ensuring that views expressed within that society are represented as those of a private citizen rather than those of a spokesperson for the College.
