•    An offer to become dean at a public law school is withdrawn, because the candidate is suddenly considered "too controversial." After a firestorm, the offer is reinstated.

•    A professor is fired from his public university position after a "thorough examination of ...[his]...writings, speeches, tape recordings and other works... ."

•    A legislator threatens a private university with loss of state funding after the president of Iran speaks to students and faculty.

•    A professor is demoted after inviting a Nobel Peace laureate to speak at a private college.

(Retired Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court and founding SALT board member Cruz Reynoso pictured at right)

Academic freedom is as important today as it has ever been, especially when universities are looking for ways to cut costs in response to the current economic crisis. What would happen to American law schools and to the quality of legal education and scholarship if there were no full time professors, no security of position, no participation in university governance? 

SALT is working on creating a "best practices" analysis that supports academic freedom in the classroom and in scholarship.

1. Faculty should have great latitude in making pedagogical choices: lecture or Socratic method, experiential learning, group projects, oral presentations, as well as different forms of assessment.

2. An educational institution should not micro-manage classroom content, but it does have the right to structure the curriculum and to decide what must be taught and perhaps even make decisions about the best way to teach it.

3. Professors have the right to regulate the conduct of students in the classroom, to limit the participation of a student who is disruptive, or to regulate the manner in which the students address one another. Faculty can ask that students support any argument with references to some authority or with logical reasoning.

4. Faculty are not free to abuse or misuse the power they have over students. If we require civility, which must refer to some level of decorum and courtesy, this stand applies to faculty as well as students.

5. Similarly, humor in the classroom is an effective pedagogical tool, but humor that employs stereotypes should be avoided.

It is also important to distinguish between legitimate and pseudo claims of discrimination.

 Some conservatives have appropriated the language used to express the value placed on pluralism and diversity, and argue that a self-conscious policy of inclusion should be used in the creation of class materials. They suggest and promote the idea that students and faculty who espouse conservative views are often the victims of discrimination. Conservatives now want to claim the status analogous to those groups that were systematically excluded from educational institutions by policies that referred to their race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. The analogy will not hold. This particular version of alleged "viewpoint discrimination' is not discrimination at all, but simply competition and disagreement.

Link to AAUP Speak Up, Speak Out: Protect the Faculty Voice

July 19, 2010:  SALT defends tenure as ABA Standards Review Committee continues its comprehensive review of the Standards and Interpretations for Approval of Law Schools.  Read the SALT Statement.

July 6, 2010: SALT asks judge not to increase sentence for Lynne Stewart, defense attorney convicted of terrorist-related charges incurred while defending her client.  Read the SALT letter. 

April 29, 2010: SALT Opposes Proposed Louisiana Legislation to Curb Scope of Law School Clinics: In letters to Senators serving on the Louisiana Commerce Committee and to the deans of the four Louisiana law schools, SALT opposed proposed legislation to curb the scope of law school clinics.  Read the SALT Letter. 

March 31, 2010 Update: SALT supports University of Maryland School of Law clinics in face of proposed legislation to collect information that would inhibit legal representation.  Compromise reached.   Read a copy of SALT's letter.

February 2010 Update:  SALT joins National Lawyers Guild, Center for Constitutional Rights, LatCrit, and 35 individuals in an amicus brief in the Churchill v. University of Colorado appeal.  Read the amicus brief.