[Date changed–posted 4/28/23 (last revised 11/30/22)]
[PDF Version]
Operating Policy and Procedure
OP 30.09: Academic Freedom and Artistic Expression
DATE: April 28, 2023
PURPOSE: The purpose of this Operating Policy/Procedure (OP) is to ensure academic freedom and artistic expression on the Texas Tech University campus.
REVIEW: This OP will be reviewed in February of even-numbered years by the Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Student Success and the Vice Provost for Faculty Success with substantive revisions forwarded to the Provost and Senior Vice President.
POLICY/PROCEDURE
1. Academic Freedom in Artistic Expression
Faculty and students engaged in the creation and presentation of works of the visual and performing arts are engaged in pursuing the mission of the university as much as those who write, teach, and study in other academic disciplines.
a. Works of the visual and performing arts are important both in their own right and because they can enhance our experience and understanding of social institutions and the human condition. Artistic expression in the classroom, studio, and workshop, therefore, merits the same assurance of academic freedom that is accorded to other scholarly and teaching activities.
b. Since faculty and student artistic presentations to the public are integral to their teaching, learning, and scholarship, these presentations merit protection. Educational and artistic criteria should be used by all who participate in the selection and presentation of artistic work.
c. Reasonable content-neutral regulation of the “time, place, and manner” of presentations should be developed and maintained. Academic institutions are obliged to ensure that regulations and procedures do not impair freedom of expression or discourage creativity by subjecting work to tests of propriety or ideology.
2. Accountability
a. Academic institutions should provide artistic performances and exhibits to encourage artistic creativity, expression, learning, and appreciation. The institution does not thereby endorse the specific artistic presentations nor do the presentations necessarily represent the institution.
b. This principle of institutional neutrality does not relieve institutions of general responsibility for maintaining professional and educational standards, but it does mean that institutions are not responsible for the views or attitudes expressed in specific works any more than they would be for the content of other instruction, publication, or invited speeches.
c. Those who present artistic work should not present themselves or their work as speaking for the institution and should otherwise fulfill their educational and professional responsibilities.
3. Audience
a. When the academic institution offers exhibitions or performances to the public, it should ensure that the rights of the presenters and the audience are not impaired by those who may be offended by the presentation. The academic institution should ensure that those who choose to view or attend may do so without interference. Mere presentation in a public place does not create a “captive audience.”
b. The institution may reasonably designate specific places as generally available or unavailable for exhibitions or performances.
4. Public Funding
a. Public funding for artistic presentations and for academic institutions does not diminish (and indeed may heighten) the responsibility of the university community to ensure academic freedom and of the public to respect the integrity of the academic institution.
b. Government imposition on artistic expression of a test of propriety, ideology, or religion is an act of censorship, which impermissibly denies the academic freedom to explore, teach, and learn.
OP Categories
01 Chancellor
02 Development
04 Audit Services
10 President
30 Academic and Student Affairs – General
32 Academic Policies – Faculty
34 Academic Policies – Students
36 Academic Programs
40 Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action
48 Communication Services
52 Information Technology
60 Environmental Health and Safety
61 Facilities Management
62 Financial and Accounting
63 General Services
64 Graduate Programs (Faculty and Students)
65 Research Accounting
66 Libraries
67 Mail Services
68 Communications and Marketing
69 Payroll and Tax Services
70 Human Resources
72 Purchasing, Contracting, and Payables
74 Research
76 Security
77 Student Services and Registrar
78 Traffic and Parking
79 Travel
80 Vehicles
Operating Policies & Procedures
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Address
Texas Tech Downtown Center Room 218 -
Email
officialpublications@ttu.edu