Academic Freedom and Lecture Recordings

Spring
2006
Resolution Number
13.02
 
Contact
Assigned to
Relations with Local Senates Committee
Category
General Concerns
Status
Completed
Summary
Voice opposition to the attempts to restrict academic freedom by the Bruin Alumni Association and other organizations; and notify community college faculty about the Bruin Alumni Association's activities, about Education Code 78907, and caution faculty to be vigilant to all attempts to restrict academic freedom at their colleges.
Status Report

AAUP President spoke at general session Spring 2008 on Academic Freedom. Continued to monitor legislation for changes in faculty rights.
Worked with the AAUP and other groups to monitor for attacks upon academic freedom. E-mails were sent to local senate presidents of such events.

Whereas, The recent activities at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) of a group called the Bruin Alumni Association, which has no official connection to the university, has encouraged students to tape record professors' lectures in efforts to bring to light UCLA's so-called "Radical Professors";

Whereas, Individuals and organizations such as the Bruin Alumni Association clearly threaten academic freedom;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has stated its positions about academic freedom in many resolutions and in its 1998 paper, "Academic Freedom and Tenure: A Faculty Perspective," which clarifies appropriate and inappropriate faculty presentation of subject matter; and

Whereas, Section 78907 of the Education Code says, "The use by any person, including a student, of any electronic listening or recording device in any classroom without the prior consent of the instructor is prohibited, except as necessary to provide reasonable auxiliary aids and academic adjustments to disabled students. Any person, other than a student, who willfully violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. . .";

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges voice its opposition to the attempts to restrict academic freedom by the Bruin Alumni Association and other organizations; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges notify community college faculty about the Bruin Alumni Association's activities, about Education Code 78907, and caution faculty to be vigilant to all attempts to restrict academic freedom at their colleges.MSC Disposition: Local Senates