Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1958 [PAGE 242]

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1957]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

239

removed, without in either instance first having been presented with a written statement of the charges against him, which shall be sufficiently specific reasonably to inform him of their nature and to enable him to present his defense thereto. Charges shall be preferred by the President, or on his authority, and shall be filed with the Secretary of the Board of Trustees. A copy of the charges shall be transmitted to the appointee either personally or shall be mailed to the appointee at his last known post-office address by registered mail within 15 days after they have been preferred. Within 15 days after such service of a copy of the charges, the appointee may file with the Secretary of the Board a written request for a hearing before the Board of Trustees. Notice of the time and place of the hearing, which shall be not less than 20 days after the date of the appointee's request, shall be served upon the appointee either personally or by registered mail. The date of the hearing shall be no less than 15 days from the date of the receipt of the notice of hearing by the appointee. The appointee shall have the right to appear at the hearing, with counsel, if he desires, to reply to the charges and to present evidence in his behalf. The Board shall not be bound by formal or technical rules of evidence in hearing and deciding the case. Prior to the preferment of charges, or while charges are pending, the appointee may be suspended by the President pending final decision of the Board upon the charges. In designating the effective date of dismissal or requested resignation, the Board shall give due consideration to the time reasonably required for the adjustment of the staff member's personal affairs. (f) Any member of the faculty of the University, who claims that termination of his services would violate principles of academic freedom, shall have the right to a hearing before the Committee on Academic Freedom of the appropriate Senate prior to a hearing, if any, before the Board of Trustees. Such hearings shall be conducted in accordance with established rules of procedure. The Committee shall make findings of fact and recommendations to the President of the University. The several Committees may, from time to time, establish their own rules of procedure.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Sec. 39. ( a ) It is the policy of the University to maintain and encourage full freedom, within the law, of inquiry, discourse, teaching, research, and publication and to protect any member of the academic staff against influences, from within or without the University, which would restrict him in the exercise of these freedoms in his area of scholarly interest. The right to the protection of the University shall not, however, include any right to the services of the University's Legal Counsel or his assistants in any governmental or judicial proceedings in which the academic freedom of the staff member may be in issue. (b) In his role as citizen, the faculty member has the same freedoms as other citizens, without institutional censorship or discipline, although he should be mindful that accuracy, forthrightness, and dignity befit his association with the University and his position as a man of learning. (c) These freedoms do not include the right to advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government by force or violence. (d) A staff member who believes that he does not enjoy the academic freedom which it is the policy of the University to maintain and encourage, shall be entitled to a hearing, on his written request, before the Committee on Academic Freedom of the appropriate University Senate.