Annual Report of the

Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility

2002-2003

To: The Representative Assembly of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate

The Committee’s activities for 2002-3 were as follows:

1. (October) We offered comments to Business Contracts Officer Jo Clare Peterman on the topic of ownership of course materials.

2. (October) We provided comments (requested by Chair Madewell) on APM-UCD-025 - Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities of Faculty Members.

3. (October-November) The chair discussed and corresponded with a faculty member concerning a potential question of academic freedom within his department and school. The discussion did not issue in a request that the committee consider the question, nor did the chair conclude that it should.

4. (July-November) The committee considered a request for an opinion on a potential question of academic freedom raised by the Chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry in the Medical School. We responded with an opinion. Subsequently we responded to questions about the same matter raised by Chair Madewell.

5. (November) The chair responded to an informal inquiry as to whether a circumstance in a certain department raised an issue of academic freedom, and responded informally that it was doubtful that such an issue had been raised. There was no subsequent request that the issue be brought to the full committee.

6. (November) The committee offered comments on a proposed revision to the APM sabbatical leave policy.

7. (November-December) The committee responded to a request by Chair Madewell for an assessment of how the Racial Privacy Initiative, if enacted, might affect university functioning.

8. (January) The committee responded to a request of Chair Madewell’s for comments on the question of whether faculty “have the prerogative to cancel classes.”

9. (May) The committee responded to a request for comments on a proposed revision to the APM statement on academic freedom (Section 010).

10. The chair served as Davis representative to the University Committee on Academic Freedom. (Professor Vojin Oklobdzija pinch-hit for the chair at the March meeting of the committee in Oakland.)

Respectfully submitted,

Joanne Diehl (English)

Vojin Oklobdzija (Electronic and Computer Engineering)

Jerold Theis (Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine)

Tobias Wolff (Law)

Jon Vochatzer (Academic Federation)

Michael Lopez (Student Representative)

Michael Jubien (Philosophy), Chair