A faculty member at Missouri State University-West Plains assumes responsibility for teaching, scholarship, research, creative activity, and university and community service, along with obligations inherent in membership in a learned profession. Essential to fulfilling these responsibilities and obligations are adherence to standards of ethical conduct and respect for academic freedom, as well as implementation of a system of tenure.

In developing a statement of faculty responsibilities and ethical standards, Missouri State University – West Plains subscribes to the belief, long held by the learned professions, that self-regulation is preferable to any externally imposed discipline.

In a University faculty it is, therefore, desirable that the most stringent obligations be laid upon individual professors that, so far as possible, any serious breach of duties be judged by colleagues who are well acquainted with the problems and practices of a specialized field. Only in cases of the most serious violations of professional responsibilities shall the academic profession regulate itself by calling upon a group representative of the whole University to deal with faults that could have been avoided either by individual self-control or by departmental discipline.

2.2.1 Responsibilities and Ethics

The University, recognizing that faculty responsibilities are grounded in ethical standards, endorses the following edited statement by the American Association of University Professors:

Professors, guided by a deep conviction of the worth and dignity of the advancement of knowledge, recognize the special responsibilities placed upon them. Their primary responsibility to their . . . [professions] is to seek and to state the truth as they see it. To this end they devote their energies to developing and improving scholarly competence. They accept the obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge. They practice intellectual honesty. Although they may follow subsidiary interests, these interests must never seriously hamper or compromise freedom of inquiry.

As teachers, professors encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students. They hold before them the best scholarly standards for their discipline. They demonstrate respect for students as individuals, and adhere to their proper role as intellectual guide and counselor. They make every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct and to assure that the evaluation of students reflects their true merit. They respect the confidential nature of the relationship between professor and student. They avoid any exploitation of students for their private advantage and acknowledge significant assistance from them. They protect students’ academic freedom.

As colleagues, professors have obligations that derive from common membership in the community of scholars. They respect and defend the free inquiry of associates. In the exchange of criticism and ideas they show due respect for the opinion of others. They acknowledge academic debts and strive to be objective in the professional judgment of colleagues. They accept their share of faculty responsibilities for the governance of the institution.

As members of their institution, professors seek above all to be effective teachers and scholars. Although they observe the stated regulations of the institution, provided they do not contravene academic freedom, they maintain the right to criticize and seek revision. Professors determine the amount and character of the work they do outside the institution with due regard to their paramount responsibilities within it. When considering the interruption or termination of service, professors recognize the effect of their decision upon the program of the institution and give due notice of their intentions.

As members of a community, professors have the rights and obligations of citizens. They measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subject, to their students, to their profession, and to their institution. When they speak or act as private persons, they avoid creating the impression that they speak or act for their college or university. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends upon freedom for its health and integrity, professors have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further public understanding of academic freedom.

Each faculty member is responsible for his or her own ethical conduct. There is both individual and collegial assurance that strong ethical standards are enacted and followed. However, if an individual commits a serious breach of professional conduct and fails to meet his or her responsibilities, a process is in place for peer faculty review. See sections 2.9 and 2.20 of this handbook.

Intellectual honesty is necessary in the performance of faculty responsibilities.

Trustworthiness of research implies avoidance of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism of research results.

Attempts to establish detailed criteria for scholarly integrity have not led to widespread consensus. However, activities of faculty members may be constrained by codes of ethics specific to their disciplines. Adherence to discipline-specific professional codes is an appropriate subject for peer review of performance. In addition, faculty members who engage in funded scholarship, research, and creative activity are obligated to meet standards for integrity specified by their sponsoring agencies.

Ranked faculty members are full-time employees of the University during their contract period. Outside employment may benefit the University, but must not interfere materially with faculty duties in teaching, scholarship, research, creative activity, and university and community service, or with a faculty member’s professional development. See Section 2.10 of this handbook.

2.2.2 Academic Freedom

The right of faculty members to academic freedom is essential to the functioning of a university. Therefore, that right shall be protected at Missouri State University-West Plains. Academic freedom is the particular right of scholars, teachers, and students within the University to pursue knowledge, speak, write, and follow the life of the mind without unreasonable restriction. It is that freedom to be judged as scholar, teacher, or student on the basis of legitimate intellectual criteria, not personal beliefs, political views, religious or other individual preferences, except as these may demonstrably affect intellectual and professional achievement.

Each faculty member is entitled to full freedom in research and in publication of research results, subject to the adequate performance of his or her academic duties.

Each faculty member is expected to conduct his or her assigned courses in a manner consistent with the course content and course credit as approved by the faculty, and consistent with the scheduled class meeting times. Within these constraints he or she is entitled to freedom in the classroom in developing and discussing subjects appropriate to the course.

Each faculty member is a citizen, a member of a learned profession, and an officer of an educational institution. When a faculty member speaks or writes as a citizen, he or she should be free from institutional censorship or discipline. As a person of learning and as an educational officer, he or she should remember, however, that the public may judge one's profession and the institution by one's utterances. Hence the faculty member should strive to be accurate, to exercise appropriate restraint, to show respect for the opinions of others, and to indicate that he or she is not speaking for the institution.

Each faculty member has the right to criticize and seek alteration of institutional regulations and policies through legal and existing shared governance means. The protection of academic freedom extends to all faculty members with fulltime or part-time appointments in the University regardless of their rank, tenure status, or position title.

At Missouri State University-West Plains, the roles of faculty cannot be separated from the responsibilities that are unique to the mission of the department. However, in no way will the negotiation of faculty roles within the department be construed to justify any intrusion into any individual faculty member’s academic freedom, especially as that freedom pertains to the individual research and expression in the classroom.

Recognizing that academic freedom is not unlimited and cognizant of the dangers to academic freedom that may arise from its misunderstanding and abuse, the University subscribes to the following principles defined in the statement of Freedom and Responsibility approved on October 31, 1970, by the Council of the American Association of University Professors, with minor editorial revision:

Membership in the academic community imposes on students, faculty members, administrators, and trustees an obligation to respect the dignity of others, to acknowledge their right to express differing opinions, and to foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, and free expression on and off the campus. The expression of dissent and the attempt to produce change, therefore, may not be carried out in ways which injure individuals or damage institutional facilities or disrupt the classes of teachers or colleagues. Speakers on campus must not only be protected from violence but must be given the opportunity to be heard. Those who seek to call attention to grievances must not do so in ways that significantly impede the functions of the institution.

Students are entitled to an atmosphere conducive to learning and to even-handed treatment in all aspects of the teacher-student relationship. Faculty members may not refuse to enroll or teach students on the grounds of their beliefs or the possible uses to which they may put the knowledge to be gained in the course. Students should not be forced by the authority inherent in the instructional role to make particular personal choices as to political action or their own part in society. Evaluation of students and the award of credit must be based on academic performance professionally judged and not on matters irrelevant to that performance, whether personality, race, religion, degree of political activism, gender, or personal beliefs.

It is the teachers’ mastery of their subject and their own scholarship which entitle them to the classroom and to freedom in the presentation of their subject. Thus, it is improper for instructors to intrude materials which have no relation to the subject matter of the course as announced to their students and as approved by the faculty in its collective responsibility to the curriculum.

Because academic freedom has traditionally included the instructors’ full freedom as citizens, most faculty members face no insoluble conflicts between the claims of politics, social actions and conscience, on the one hand, and expectations of their students, colleagues, and institutions, on the other. If such conflicts become acute, and the instructors’ attention to their obligations as citizens and moral agents precludes the fulfillment of substantial academic obligations, they cannot escape the responsibility of that choice, but should either request a leave of absence or resign their academic position.