An initial review by an accreditation commission may have found evidence supporting allegations that the University of Florida has stifled professors’ academic freedom and free expression.
Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), informed UF President W. Kent Fuchs on Dec. 15 of the review, which was touched off by a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the university’s conflict-of-interest policy for faculty members.
“After reviewing the materials submitted in response by your institution … and related continuing media reports, commission staff have determined that there may be sufficient factual information supporting significant noncompliance with the (commission’s) Principles of Accreditation,” Wheelan said in the letter.
She also indicated that SACSCOC will send a special committee to evaluate the school’s compliance with the accreditation principles, with a formal review by the commission’s Board of Trustees set for June of next year.
Fuchs is now implementing recent recommendations by a task force charged with updating the university’s conflict-of-interest policy. Of particular interest in the update is the policy governing whether professors get approvals to serve as expert witnesses – an issue that recently led six professors who were denied such approvals to sue the university.
A University of Florida statement emailed to the Florida Record said the school would continue to work to preserve and protect academic freedom.
“To that end, we welcome the pending review by SACSCOC and will cooperate fully with the committee’s work,” the UF statement said. “In the meantime, the administration and faculty will continue to work hand-in-hand to implement and strengthen policies and transparency in alignment with reports from the Presidential Task Force and the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom, critical steps to re-affirm the University of Florida’s commitments to free speech and academic freedom.”
The faculty members who sued the university in the Northern District of Florida – Sharon Wright Austin, Michael McDonald, Daniel Smith, Jeffrey Goldhagen, Teresa Reid and Kenneth Nunn – were initially denied approval to serve as expert witnesses on behalf of plaintiffs who challenged a state law or policy.