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Ethics

Statement on Professional Ethics

Statement outlining general standards that serve as a reminder of the variety of ethical responsibilities assumed by all members of the profession.

From the President: Ethics and Corporatization

Almost every institutional problem we confront in higher education today situates us at the intersection of ethics and corporatization. Should we protect our lower-paid colleagues from pay cuts and furloughs? Should higher-paid faculty and administrators make sacrifices for community members living on the margins? Which is more important—a new campus building or free health care for all employees?

The Moral Education of Journal Editors

Most scientific and medical journals now have conflict-of-interest policies in place, but disclosure alone does not ensure scientific integrity.

Human Rights, Academic Freedom, and Offshore Academics

The rush to create universities abroad, especially in countries with authoritarian governments, can come at a high cost: from exploitation of migrant labor to uncertain protection of free speech and basic rights.

AAUP Releases Draft Report on Academy-Industry Relationships

A new AAUP report, prepared by past president Cary Nelson in conjunction with investigative journalist Jennifer Washburn, examines the connections between academia and industry and offers recommendations for ensuring academic freedom and ethical practices in academy-industry partnerships. The report, Recommended Principles and Practices to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships, is the result of eighteen months of research and preparation.

Draft Report on IRBs Posted for Comment

Committee A’s Subcommittee on Academic Freedom and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) is now accepting comments on its new draft report, Regulation of Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board. The report, available online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/A/IRB, was prepared in response to potential changes to the regulations governing institutional review boards.

Regulated Research

Ethical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965–2009. Zachary M. Schrag. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

Freedom and Responsibility

Statement addressing the ethical responsibilities that go along with academic freedom.

Lost in Post-Cold War Transitions: The Limits of Freedom in Scholarship

Relying on a key conceptual distinction between “activism in scholarship” and “activism with scholarship,” this essay proposes a way to think about justifiable limits to freedom in scholarship, using as its example the field of “transitional justice” studies.

The Personal Ethics of Academic Freedom: Problems of Knowledge and Democratic Competence

The following essay takes up Robert Post’s influential account of academic freedom in order to consider the role of personal ethics in practices surrounding academic freedom. The essay begins by outlining and proposing some revisions of Post’s account. It then considers three topics that are connected with academic freedom: the responsibilities of academics in extramural speech; in professional evaluation of research; and, finally, in tenure decisions.

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