PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Effective: August 15, 2024

Purpose: To establish the expected standards of conduct for the University.

Scope: This policy applies to the University campus wide.

Responsible Office: President’s Office

Policy Statement: Members of the campus community have an obligation to fulfill the responsibilities incumbent upon all citizens, as well as the responsibilities of their particular roles within the academic community. All members share the obligation to respect:

The fundamental rights of others as citizens.

As citizens, members of the campus community enjoy the same basic rights and are bound by the same responsibilities to respect the rights of others, as are all citizens.

Among the basic rights are freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of political beliefs, and freedom from any personal force and violence, threats of violence, and personal abuse.

Freedom of press implies the right of freedom from censorship in campus newspapers and other media, and the concomitant obligation to adhere to the canons of responsible journalism.

It should be made clear in writings and broadcasts that editorial opinions are not necessarily those of the institution or its members.

The campus is not a sanctuary from the general law. The educational institution does not stand in loco parentis for its members.

Each member of the campus community has the right to organize their own personal life and behavior, so long as it does not violate the law or agreements voluntarily entered into and does not interfere with the rights of others or the educational process.

Admission to, employment by, and promotion within the campus community shall accord with the provisions against discrimination in the general law.

The rights of others based upon the nature of the educational process.

All members of the campus community have other responsibilities and rights based upon the nature of the educational process and the requirements of the search for truth and its free presentation. These rights and responsibilities include:

• Obligation to respect the freedom to teach, to learn and to conduct research and publish findings in the spirit of free inquiry. Institutional censorship and individual or group intolerance of the opinions of others are inconsistent with this freedom.
• Obligation to scholarship to examine and state the truth as one sees it; to develop and improve scholarly competence; to practice intellectual honesty.
• Obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge. Freedom to teach and to learn implies that the teacher has the right to determine the specific content of their course, within the established course definition, and the responsibility not to depart significantly from their area of competence or to divert significant time to material extraneous to the subject matter of their course. Free inquiry further implies that the results of research shall be communicated. The campus community should foster a climate of free inquiry.
• Obligation not to interfere with the freedom of members of the campus community to pursue normal academic and administrative activities, including freedom of movement.
• Obligation not to infringe upon the right of all members of the campus community to privacy in offices, laboratories, and dormitory rooms and in the keeping of personal papers, confidential records and effects, subject only to the general law and to conditions voluntarily entered into. Campus records on its members would contain only information which is reasonably related to the educational process or safety of the campus.
• Obligation not to interfere with any member's freedom to hear, to study, and to express opinions concerning unpopular and controversial views on intellectual and public issues.
• Obligation to respect the right to hold public meetings in which members participate, to post notices, and to engage in peaceful, orderly demonstrations.
• Obligation to establish and respect reasonable and impartially applied rules, designed to reflect the educational purposes of the institution and to protect the safety of the campus, regulating the time, place and manner of activities and allocating the use of facilities.
• Obligation to afford recourse if another member of the campus community is negligent or irresponsible in performance of their responsibilities, or if another member of the campus community represents the work of others as their own.
• Obligation to afford freedom to determine the amount and character of the work one does outside the institution provided such outside interests never seriously hamper or compromise the paramount responsibilities to the institution.
• Obligation to ensure the right to be heard and considered at appropriate levels of the decision-making process about basic policy matters of direct concern.

Members of the campus community who have a continuing association with the institution and who have substantial authority and security with an especially strong obligation to maintain an environment conducive to respect for the rights of others and the fulfillment of academic responsibilities.

Tenured faculty should maintain the highest standards in performance of their academic responsibilities.

Governing boards have a particular responsibility to protect the integrity of the academic process from external and internal attacks and to prevent the political or financial exploitation of the campus by any individual or group.

The rights of the institution.

The institution, and any unit or agency which exercises direct or indirect authority for the institution, has rights and responsibilities of its own. The rights and responsibilities of the institution include:

• Right and obligation to provide an open forum for members of the campus community to present and debate public issues.
• Right to prohibit individuals and groups who are not members of the campus community from using its name, its finances, or its physical and operating facilities for commercial or political activities.
• Right to prohibit members of the campus community from using its name, its finances, or its physical and operating facilities for commercial activities.
• Right and obligation to provide members of the campus community the use of meeting rooms, under the rules of the campus, for purposes including the meeting of official clubs, but to prohibit the use of campus rooms by individual members or groups of members on a regular or prolonged basis as free headquarters for political campaigns, and to prohibit the use of the name of the institution, its finances, and its office equipment and supplies for any political purpose at any time.
• Right and obligation not to take a position, as an institution, in electoral politics or on public issues, except on those issues which directly affect its autonomy, the freedom of its members, its financial support, and its academic freedom.
• Right and obligation to protect the members of the campus community and visitors to it from physical harm, threats of harm, or abuse; its property from damage and unauthorized use; and its academic and administrative processes from interruption.
• Right to require that persons on the campus be willing to identify themselves by name and address, and state what connection, if any, they have with the campus.
• Right and obligation to set reasonable standards of conduct in order to safeguard the educational process and to provide for the safety of members of the campus community and the institution's property.
• Right to deny pay and academic credit to members of the campus community who are on strike; and the concomitant obligation to accept legal strikes legally conducted without recourse to dismissal of participants.

The rights of members to fair and equitable procedures for determining when and upon whom penalties for violation of campus regulations should be imposed.

All members of the campus community have a right to fair and equitable procedures for determining the validity of charges of violating campus regulations.

These procedures shall be structured so as to facilitate a reliable determination of the truth or falsity of charges, to provide fundamental fairness to the parties, and to maintain necessary order in an effective manner.

All members of the campus community have a right to know in advance the range of penalties for violations of campus regulations. The policy basis for adequate cause for separation from the campus should be clearly formulated and made public.

All members of the campus community have an obligation to observe the state regulations of the institution, provided these regulations do not contravene academic freedom, while maintaining the right to criticize and seek revision of the regulations.

Charges of minor infractions of regulations penalized by small fines or reprimands which do not become part of permanent records may be handled expeditiously by the appropriate individual or committee. Persons so penalized have the right to appeal.

When charged with infractions of regulations which may lead to notation in permanent records, or to more serious penalties, such as suspension or expulsion, members of the campus community have a right to formal procedures with adequate due process, including the right to appeal.

Members of the campus community charged or convicted of violations under general law may be subject to campus sanctions for the same conduct, in accord with campus policies and procedures, when the conduct is in violation of a campus rule essential to the continuing protection of other members of the campus community or to the safeguarding of the educational process.

The rights and obligations of academic responsibility.

Every member of the academic community has the obligation to respect the concept of freedom and the equally demanding concept of responsibility. Each individual is a member of a learned profession and a member of an educational institution. When they speak or write they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As a person of learning they should remember that the public may judge their profession and institution by their utterances. Hence, at all times, they should exhibit accuracy, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not an institutional spokesperson.

Definitions: All words and phrases shall be interpreted utilizing their plain meanings unless otherwise defined in another University or Board of Regents policy or by statute or regulation.

Procedures: All procedures linked and related to the policies above shall have the full force and effect of policy if said procedures have first been properly approved by the University’s administrator in charge of General University procedures.

[Human Resources procedures - coming soon]

[General University procedures - coming soon]

Related Policy Information: [coming soon]