The AAR has long been committed to the fundamental principles of academic freedom articulated by the American Association of University Professors in its “1940 Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure.”1 Our mission statement affirms that "within a context of free inquiry and critical examination, the Academy welcomes all disciplined reflection on religion–both from within and outside of communities of belief and practice."
We strive to foster excellence in study of religion because, "there is a critical need for ongoing reflection upon and understanding of religious traditions, issues, questions, and values.” This work demands that we safeguard the conditions that allow for the free exchange of ideas, and it entails responsibilities as well as rights. Both are governed by the canons of academic freedom.
As we pursue this work, our professional and scholarly duties are often organized around three activities: teaching and research, as well as service to our home institutions and the larger publics we serve. In turn, this statement is organized around these “three pillars” of academic life.
TEACHING
Responsible instruction, in any educational context, involves critical inquiry: questioning assumptions, some of them long taken for granted; attending to multiple points of view, some of them disturbing; and engaging with the methods and findings of other scholars, some of them drastically different than our own.
Teaching and learning of this sort sometimes proves unsettling to students, especially those who may be unaccustomed to reflection on their own religious practices and beliefs or unfamiliar with critical analysis of their own traditions and communities.
In the classroom, AAR members should model and encourage free inquiry, critical analysis, and the respectful consideration of diverse points of view. At the same time, we are obligated to be sensitive to our students, recognizing that they may enter this exchange from very different starting points, and with a variety of moral, spiritual, ethical, or religious commitments. From the teacher’s perspective, this demands patience, humility, candor, and generosity.
RESEARCH
Responsible research—inquiring, speaking, and writing about religion in scholarly forums or in the public arena, also entails rights and responsibilities. Researchers have the right to follow lines of inquiry where they lead but also the responsibility to exercise care, recognizing that our discoveries may have implications for the self-understanding and well being of students, colleagues, and members of the public. Criticism should not impede judicious critical scholarship, and our shared commitment to free inquiry means that scholars must be free from intimidation and free to form conclusions on the basis of shared scholarly norms, as understood by qualified peers. The same rights of non-interference and the same standards of assessment apply to peer-reviewed digital scholarship that an institution is willing to count as evidence of qualification for hiring, promotion, and tenure. Whatever the medium used to circulate the results of scholarship, AAR members should be cautious in condemning unwanted speech or writing on the grounds that it violates standards of “civility,” since sometimes that argument might allow unfair treatment and endanger free inquiry. Yet scholars also have an obligation to promote the conditions for intellectual exchange in all forms of communication, from conferences to publications, and that means showing humility about one’s own views and respect for those of others. When those views are communicated in social media that an institution would not recognize as relevant for hiring and promotion, those statements are “extramural” expressions of personal views that should be protected by academic freedom.2
SERVICE
AAR members are expected to provide service to their institutions in the form of committee work, recruitment and admissions, public engagement, and other activities. The canons of academic freedom apply to such service. As in the classroom and the convention center, scholars of religion must be able to express their views openly and without coercion as they provide service to their institutions and the wider community. While it is appropriate to note a scholar’s unwillingness to perform the usual modes of institutional service, that service cannot be demeaned or disqualified when the scholar expresses unpopular views in the performance of those duties. As the AAUP has proposed, appeals to “collegiality” as a standard for faculty evaluation are inappropriate, although refusal to participate in faculty governance or institutional service, or a pattern of disrespectful communication that fails to safeguard the conditions of free exchange, might also be unacceptable.3
If there is an alleged violation of academic freedom in research, teaching, or service AAR members are encouraged to carefully consider such claims and take appropriate action. The AAR does not adjudicate such cases, but its “Policy on Public Statements” indicates that the Board of Directors will consider requests to issue a statement on a case if the relevant procedures are followed, including by establishing that the request falls within the purview of the AAR’s concern to promote the study of religion and serve the professional interests of members.4
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1 AAUP, “1940 Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” available at http://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure.
2 On extramural speech and academic freedom, see AAUP, “Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications,” revised and expanded text adopted in 2013, available at http://www.aaup.org/report/academic-freedom-and-electronic-communications-2014.
3 AAUP, “On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation,” approved 1999, available at http://www.aaup.org/report/collegiality-criterion-faculty-evaluation. See also Rudy H. Fichtenbaum, “From the President: Civility,” available at http://www.aaup.org/article/president-civility#.VZWQ-IsfyA0.
4 American Academy of Religion, “Policy on Public Statements,” approved 2015, available at https://www.aarweb.org/about/policy-on-public-statements.
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