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November 11, 2008, Volume 55, No. 12

To:           All University of Pennsylvania Faculty

From:     Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility

Subject: Reminder from the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (SCAFR)

Academic freedom and academic responsibility are the preconditions of both a great and a moral university, and the Statutes of the University of Pennsylvania (Article 11) establish and define the role of the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (SCAFR) to secure those preconditions. SCAFR reminds the faculty that in each School of the University of Pennsylvania, there is an elected Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (CAFR), which exists to consider and adjudicate School-related matters that appear either to threaten academic freedom or to indicate a failure to discharge academic responsibility, whether by individuals or by academic units. By University Statute, the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility is elected by the entire faculty of the University. Each School’s CAFR must inform SCAFR in the event of pursuing a claim that academic freedom or responsibility has been violated, and SCAFR will advise each School’s CAFR and each School’s administrators on the procedures to be followed in such an event (Rules of the Faculty Senate, 9.b. iii).

SCAFR also investigates and makes reports and recommendations on any matter affecting academic freedom and responsibility within the University. Faculty members can greatly assist SCAFR’s mission by bringing matters of such concern to our attention and by providing us with pertinent information.  SCAFR will make an annual report, consistent with rights of privacy, on what it considers and recommends. 

Communications may be made to SCAFR via the Senate Office (e-mail: Senate@pobox.upenn.edu; phone: (215) 898-6943) or initiated directly with the SCAFR Chair, Andrew Rappe (e-mail: rappe@sas.upenn.edu). Faculty should be careful not to put confidential details into e-mails. 

See: www.upenn.edu/faculty_senate/acad_freedom.html for information on SCAFR members and the School CAFR Chairs.

 

 

 

Almanac - November 11, 2008, Volume 55, No. 12