eM City University of View York (ee

of the
SC Laastadion of University Professors

RESOLUTION

' On March 11, 1969, the City University of New York Council of the American Association of University
Professors adopted the following resolution based upon the principles set forth in the 1940 STATEMENT OF
PRINCIPLES ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM and TENURE, the 1967 JOINT STATEMENT OF RIGHTS AND
FREEDOMS OF STUDENTS, and the 1967 Special Resolution of the Council of the American Association of
University Professors:

The unfettered search for truth, freedom of inquiry, and free expression are basic
to the purpose and nature of academic institutions. All members of the academic commu-
unity have the right to share in this freedom of thought and action, and to support those
causes in which they believe.

The history of the work of the AAUP in the defense of academic freedom, whether
threatened by administration, governing bodies, or forces outside the University is a matter
of record.

It is now necessary to declare that it is destructive of the pursuit of learning and
contrary to the essence of a free society to disrupt the regular and essential operation of
an academic institution, to interfere with the instructor’s conduct of a course, to prevent
speakers invited to the campus from speaking, to obstruct and restrain other members of
the academic community and campus visitors by physical force.

The threat to academic freedom does not derive alone from the activities of a dis-
ruptive minority. It arises also from the actions of administrations that undermine the role
of responsible faculty and students in the governance of the university, and that preclude
the possibility of full and rational discussion of issues before decisions are made.

All academic policy on such matters as the structure of academic programs, the
content of courses of study, faculty recruitment, promotion, and tenure, student admissions,
matriculation and student standards, should be made by duly constituted and properly repre-
sentative college governing bodies in strict compliance with precisely formulated and widely
distributed rules of procedures for the adoption or modification of such procedures.

All members of the academic community are under a strong obligation to protect
the university from tactics which undermine the structure of freedom.

The CUNY Council of AAUP hereby directs its Committee on College and University Gov-
ernance to initiate or act upon requests for inquiries into complaints presented through a constituent
AAUP chapter against an administrative officer of a College or the University, charging acts of
commission or omission resulting in violation of any of the principles of the RESOLUTION adopted
by the CUNY Council of AAUP on March 11, 1969. The Council is prepared to call upon the
National AAUP to set in motion procedures leading to the censure of administrative officers and
institutions in instances in which the CUNY-AAUP Council’s Committee on College and University
Governance concludes that such action is appropriate.

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