To: Richard Yanikoski, President
Judith Dwyer, President-Elect
Christopher Chalokwu, Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Dominick Hart, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences
Genie McAvoy, President, Faculty Senate
John Gutowski, Secretary/President Elect, Faculty Senate
Carol Poston, Past President, Faculty Senate
Arunas Dagys, Chair, Faculty Affairs Committee

From: Saint Xavier University-AAUP Chapter Executive Committee:
Richard Fritz, President
Jayne Hileman, Treasurer
Norman Boyer, At-Large Representative
Michael Clark, At-Large Representative
Olga Villela, At-Large Representative

In the aftermath of the circumstances surrounding Professor Peter N. Kirstein's e-mail communication with an Air Force Academy cadet, the Executive Committee of the Saint Xavier University chapter of the American Association of University Professors makes the following
recommendations. These recommendations are made in the spirit of shared governance and collaboration. Both the administration and the faculty will benefit by sharing the responsibility for due process in cases where formal sanctions or punishments may be contemplated.

1) Faculty should not be censured or punished for their ideas or opinions. The AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure states: "When they speak or write as citizens, faculty should be free from institutional censorship or discipline." The SXU-AAUP Executive Committee stresses that external public pressures should not influence either due process or substantive actions taken against faculty in regard to free speech. AAUP guidelines further state: "In a democratic society freedom of speech is an indispensable right of the citizen" (AAUP "Redbook," Committee A Statement on Extramural Utterances). As Stanley Kurtz observes in the National Review Online (January 8, 2003): "The best remedy for speech that offends, is more speech." Free speech is indispensable to a free society. Faculty should not be removed from the classroom for extramural utterances and activities. Suspension, dismissal, or other punishments/sanctions should not be used to restrain faculty members in their exercise of academic freedom or other rights of American citizens. (see AAUP "Redbook," Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure, Section 5, Dismissal Procedures). "Extramural utterances rarely bear upon the faculty member's fitness for continuing service." (AAUP "Redbook," Committee A Statement on Extramural Utterances). Professors should not be judged on their classroom teaching based on extramural statements, opinions, or activities that are unrelated to their teaching assignment.

2) Due process must precede any sanctions or punishments. Faculty members should be notified in advance of a disciplinary hearing. They should be informed in writing of the nature of the charges and of any sanctions being considered. Faculty members should also be notified in advance of the agenda and format of the hearing. (See AAUP "Redbook," Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure, Section 5, Dismissal Procedures).

To ensure faculty oversight and participation in future cases involving the potential sanctioning of a faculty member, the SXU-AAUP Chapter Executive Committee recommends that the Saint Xavier Faculty Senate establish a faculty committee, duly elected by the general faculty, charged with the function of rendering confidential advice. This committee should have the right to conduct its own inquiry into whether additional proceedings and sanctions are appropriate. This committee can only function properly if: 1) there is adequate communication and a mutually respectful, constructive working relationship with the administration, and 2) it has appropriate initiating capacity and a full voice in the decision making process regarding sanctions. (See AAUP "Redbook," Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities). The principles of shared governance indicate that the Faculty Senate must seek formal, binding arrangements with the administration that require all parties to adhere to relevant AAUP guidelines.

3) Post tenure review must not be used as a punitive process. Article V of the Saint Xavier University Faculty Bylaws requires: "The purpose of the [post-tenure] review is to enhance and improve the tenured faculty member's overall performance. The review process shall be formative and shall preserve academic freedom and tenure." The procedures specified in the Faculty Policies Section of the Faculty Handbook regarding post-tenure review must be respected at all times. It is not the prerogative of either the faculty member or the administration to alter, amend, or revise these procedures.

4) As discussed in the opening paragraphs of AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the economic security of the faculty member, along with academic freedom,"are indispensable to the success of an institution in fulfilling its obligations to its students and to society." The economic security of faculty members should never be threatened by contract addenda which single out an individual for his or her speech or activities. Contract addenda should never be contemplated or implemented as a means of restricting academic freedom or requiring intellectual orthodoxy or behavioral conformity.

cc: Raymond Taylor, Chair, History Department
Susan Beal, Faculty Affairs Committee
Donald Cyze, Faculty Affairs Committee
Randy Krohmer, Faculty Affairs Committee
Tom McGannon, Faculty Affairs Committee
Martha Morris, Faculty Affairs Committee
Kay Thurn, Faculty Affairs Committee
Jonathan Knight, Director, Dept. of Academic Freedom, Tenure, & Governance, AAUP National
Pangratios Papacosta, President, AAUP-Illinois
Peter N. Kirstein, Professor, History Department

[Editor's Note: Mr. Kirstein is a member of the local chapter of AAUP but told HNN he recused himself from the proceedings related to his case.