Resolution in Support of Academic Freedom and Against the So-Called "Academic Bill of Rights"

Adopted at 2006 Midwinter Meeting

Whereas the ALA has a general interest in the health of the all the nation’s institutions which support freedom of thought and learning;

Whereas the ALA represents many members who work in universities and colleges as providers of information and knowledge and promoters of the overall goals of American higher learning and research;

Whereas the ALA embraces the First Amendment and, in that context, the "Freedom to Read Statement," the "Library Bill of Rights," the ALA "Code of Ethics," and the “Statement of Core Values;”

Whereas all of the above documents are clearly consonant with and supportive in principle of the 1940 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) "Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure," a policy specifically cited by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL);

Whereas academic libraries generally support the above documents;

Whereas the so-called “Academic Bill of Rights" would impose extra-academic standards on institutions of higher education, directly interfering in course content, the classroom, the research process, and hiring and tenure decisions;

Whereas the so-called “Academic Bill of Rights" is being promoted on campuses, in state legislatures and at the Federal level;

Therefore be it resolved that the American Library Association opposes the promotion of the misleadingly-named "Academic Bill of Rights."