Freedom to Question and to Criticize

Faculty members should be free to speak out on matters having to do with their institution and its policies to administration, and they should be able to express their professional opinions to administration without fear of reprisal. In speaking critically to administration, faculty members should strive for accuracy and should exercise appropriate restraint. Tolerance of criticism to administration, however, is a crucial component of the academic environment and of an institution’s ultimate vitality.

Despite the serious challenges currently facing them, our institutions of academic health science should respect and foster conditions that are essential to freedom of learning, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression.