Ohio Administrative Code › Title 3357:15 - Stark State College › Chapter 3357:15-13 - Academics › Section 3357:15-13-48 - Freedom of expression and responsibilities

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
The college believes that the right of
				expression is as necessary as the right of inquiry and that both must be
				preserved as essential to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge and truth.
				Students, including student groups, have a fundamental constitutional right to
				free speech. The college is committed to giving students broad latitude to
				speak, write, listen, challenge, learn, and discuss any issue. The college is
				further committed to maintaining campus as a marketplace of ideas for all
				students and faculty in which the exchange of ideas is not to be suppressed
				because the ideas put forth are thought by some members of the college
				community to be offensive, unwise, indecent, disagreeable, conservative,
				liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed; it is not the college's role to
				shield individuals from such speech or to use concerns about civility and
				mutual respect as justification for closing off the discussion of such speech.
				The college believes that it is for individual students and faculty to make
				judgments about ideas for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by
				seeking to suppress free speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the
				ideas they oppose. The primary responsibility of faculty is to engage in
				honest, courageous, and persistent effort to search out and communicate the
				truth that lies in the areas of their competence.
Although all students and all faculty
				are free to state their own views about and contest the views expressed on
				campus, and to state their own views about and contest speakers who are invited
				to express their views on campus, they may not substantially obstruct or
				otherwise substantially interfere with the freedom of others to express views
				they reject or even loathe. To this end, the college has a responsibility to
				promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation and protect
				that freedom. The college is committed to providing an atmosphere that is most
				conducive to speculation, experimentation, and creation by all students and all
				faculty, who shall always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, and
				to gain new understanding.
Academic freedom is the right to engage
				in intellectual expression, on and off campus, without fear of censorship,
				retaliation, or sanctions. This right is essential to the longstanding goal of
				higher education to seek the truth by encompassing varying viewpoints. Academic
				freedom includes both the individual's and institution's responsibility to
				maintain academic standards and to encourage intellectual inquiry and
				integrity. Academic freedom of expression extends to all members of the
				academic community, subject to constitutional limits on expression that is
				defamatory, incites violence, discriminates, or harasses.
College employees are entitled to
				academic freedom and to pursue scholarly interests without fear of censure,
				discipline, or reprisal; but they are subject to the standards of professional
				conduct set forth in the policies and procedures manual. When college employees
				speak or write as citizens, they are free from college censorship or
				discipline; but their special position in the community imposes special
				obligations, as the public may judge the institution by their comments. Hence,
				employees are encouraged to be accurate at all times, exercise appropriate
				restraint, show respect for the opinions of others, and should indicate that
				they do not speak for the college.
College faculty members may present
				course content in their own scholarly manner. The college's design best
				practices established by the college, ethical standards of the discipline, and
				stark state college policies and procedures are subject to this policy and must
				be followed by faculty. Faculty members are free to discuss subject matter
				aligned with the approved course learning objectives. However, faculty members
				must refrain from persistently using a substantial portion of classroom
				instruction to introduce material that has no bearing on the subject matter of
				the course and/or which is outside the area(s) of their competence and
				training. Students will be graded only on the intellectual merits of their
				work. Academic freedom does not allow a faculty member to impel his or her
				opinions on students. Consequently, faculty members must assess student
				learning for mastery of course content, rather than a student's personal
				beliefs on a subject or a student's subjective decision to agree or disagree
				with a particular aspect of the material.
Nothing within this policy shall be
				interpreted as preventing the college from imposing measures under its policies
				and procedures that do not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
				or Article I, Sections 3 and 11 of the Ohio Constitution, such as:
				constitutional time, place and manner restrictions; reasonable and
				viewpoint-neutral restrictions in nonpublic forums; restricting the use of the
				college's property to protect the free speech rights of students and faculty
				members and preserve the use of the property for the advancement of the
				college's mission; prohibiting or limiting speech, expression, or assemblies
				that are not protected by the first amendment to the United States Constitution
				or Article 1, Sections 3 and 11 of the Ohio Constitution; and content
				restrictions on speech that are reasonably related to a legitimate pedagogical
				purpose, such as classroom rules enacted by faculty. Additionally, nothing in
				this policy shall give students the right to disrupt previously scheduled or
				reserved activities occurring in a traditional public form.