Academic freedom in cyberspace: AAUP guidelines and Internet-use policies

The electronic medium has become an increasingly popular way to convey information and to express ideas. Academic communities have embraced technology as a means to improve instruction, to allow faculty and students to exchange course-related material, to post grades, and even to house important institutional data such as employment records, payroll and salaries. Professors and students alike use the medium for professional and personal reasons including those related to posting research findings and even social exchanges.;Given the importance of electronic communication to academic institutions, the AAUP developed a policy setting forth statements relative to the protection of the principles of academic freedom in electronic communication. In this qualitative study, Internet-use policies from ten percent of the public and private Doctoral-Granting and Baccalaureate level institutions, as defined by the Carnegie Institute, were analyzed in terms of the degree to which principles of academic freedom in electronic communication are (or are not) adequately addressed in this sample of 90 colleges and universities. A group of "notable incident" institutions, defined and selected by the researcher as having experienced at least one highly publicized event pertaining to use of the institution's computing network, was also studied to see if those policies differed significantly from the sample of Doctoral-Granting and Baccalaureate institutions. The policies were studied to answer four questions: Are the principles of academic freedom adequately protected by the Internet-use policies of the sample? Do the policies from Doctoral-Granting and Baccalaureate level institutions differ in the amount of protection afforded the principles? Do the polices differ in the amount of protection afforded the principles by public or private institutional status? Do the policies from "notable incident" institutions differ from those posted by the Doctoral-Granting and Baccalaureate level institutions?;The data reveal that some principles of academic freedom, such as the freedom of research and publication and the freedom of teaching are only moderately protected in electronic communication while others, such as those pertaining to copyright and intellectual property, privacy of electronic communication, and sanctions for terminating access to the system (due process) are more strongly protected by policies from this sample.