POLICY ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Approved by The Regents on June 19, 1970
Students who enroll on the campuses of the University of California are parties to a moral and contractual
relationship.in which the University, on its side, is obligated to provide quality education, to recognize
student achievement with grades and degrees which have an accepted meaning for transfer to other
institutions, for graduate work, and for careers. The Regents are responsible to the people, to the faculty, and
to the students to see that the University is faithful to this contract. They have the responsibility to see that
the value of the diploma is not diluted, that it maintain its meaning to graduates and to future employers.
They are responsible to ensure that public confidence in the University is justified. And they are responsible
to see that the University remain aloof from politics and never function as an instrument for the advance of
partisan interest. Misuse of the classroom by, for example, allowing it to be used for political indoctrination,
for purposes other than those for which the course was constituted, or for providing grades without
commensurate and appropriate student effort, constitutes misuse of the University as an institution.
It should be understood that the Board of Regents has always recognized the importance of an “open forum
policy” on the campuses, of a free exchange of ideas, and of pursuit of the truth wherever it may lead-popular
or unpopular though that may be. There are many hours available during the daily activities of students and
faculty for free discourse on matters of concern to them as citizens. It cannot be argued successfully that it is
necessary to interrupt progress of an academic course or to modify grading procedures to provide for such
discussion. It is the Regents’ responsibility to the very concept of a University to protect the institution from
the misuse of the classroom and to ensure the rights of all to teaching and learning.
Therefore, it is the Regents’ policy that no campus, no academic college, no department, and no instructor
distort the instructional process in a manner which deviates from the responsibilities. inherent in academic
freedom. This includes introducing subject matter foreign to the regular course content, using classroom
facilities and supplies, or other nonfree speech areas for political purposes. The right of students to have their
classes held on the regularly scheduled basis and to be taught by the instructor whose responsibility it is to
teach the course in question is to be upheld.