| This research develops a deeper awareness of faculty academic freedom values and a richer understanding of American academic culture by employing a cultural lens to the exploration of commonalities and differences of academic freedom perceptions of fifty-seven faculty members--twenty-nine in three engineering departments, and twenty-eight in three departments in the liberal arts at The Pennsylvania State University--and is based on these specific research questions: (1) Do Penn State faculty in the disciplines studied consider academic freedom to be a significant feature of a career in higher education? (2) How do faculty compare in their academic freedom values within and between the engineering and liberal arts disciplines studied? (3) How do faculty academic freedom values compare over length of time in the profession? (4) Do the faculty interviewed perceive any existing threats to their academic freedom? (5) Do they see academic tenure as a significant and necessary protection for academic freedom?;In-depth interviews were conducted with faculty during the summer and fall of 1989. The sample was composed of faculty members who have been in the profession for ten years and longer, and those who have been academics for five years or less. The interviews were semi-structured, flowing from the conversations as they developed, but organized by an interview guide. Data were recorded on tape and through detailed interview notes; summarized daily; organized into categories, themes, and patterns as they were collected, using content analysis; and examined for evidence of how faculty members in the subgroups studied compared in their academic freedom perceptions.;The major findings of the study confirm that faculty members do share a value for academic freedom, but the research does not support the belief that faculty members in the applied field of engineering value the concept less than those in the liberal arts. In addition to testing existing theory, the research provides depth and further knowledge concerning how faculty see their career and professional life. The research offers information on how faculty perceive both the concept and the practice of academic freedom, and identifies forces and conditions which faculty perceive as threats to and constraints on their freedoms. |
