Washburn University strives to promote the search for truth and its free exposition and thus to provide the best education possible for its students. Academic freedom is for the furtherance of these purposes and applies both to teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of law and fact. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. Academic freedom carries with it duties correlative with the rights.

A. The faculty member is entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results subject to performance of his/her other academic duties, but research for pecuniary return should be based upon University policy as stated in the Faculty Handbook (see Sections Five II and Six I).

B. Faculty are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects and must exercise professional judgment in selecting the material they wish to use.

C. The Washburn University faculty member is a member of a learned profession and an academic member of an educational institution. When the faculty member speaks or writes as an individual he/she is free from institutional censorship or discipline and must avoid identification of Washburn University with his/her words or acts as an individual. As a person of learning, the faculty member must remember that the public may judge the profession and Washburn University by his/her utterances. Hence, the faculty should at all times endeavor to be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should avoid indication that he/she is an institutional spokesman unless he/she has been so designated.