Academic Freedom Part 1

March 3, 2023

Our Know Your Rights segments highlight different aspects that impact your employment at Carleton University, including highlights from the Collective Agreement in small, easy to understand bits.

In this issue, we would like to provide an introduction on academic freedom. Per Article 4 of the Collective Agreement: “The common good of society depends upon the search for truth and its free exposition. Universities with academic freedom are essential to these purposes both in teaching and scholarship/research.” The article further states, “Academic freedom carries with it the duty to use that freedom in a manner consistent with the scholarly obligation to base research and teaching on an honest search for truth.”

Accordingly, Article 4 affords the following to CUASA members:

1. freedom in carrying out research and in publishing the results thereof,
2. freedom in carrying out teaching and in discussing their subject and,
3. freedom from institutional censorship.

The language from Article 4, as referenced above, remains virtually unchanged since CUASA’s first collective agreement was ratified in 1975.

One of the primary purposes for CUASA, as your Association and your Union, is to defend academic freedom, which we have proudly done for our members in the past, and will continue to do in the future. In our next newsletter, you can expect more details about Academic Freedom, including what it means on a practical level and why it’s important.