Faculty Safety Guidelines
I. POLICY STATEMENT.
This guide is designed to assist Occidental College faculty, staff, and administrators in developing strategies to protect academic freedom that may come under threat from individuals or groups outside the College. Through this guide, and other means, the College seeks to protect faculty against the intimidation or violence that the expression of unpopular ideas and controversial research sometimes generates.
II. APPLICABILITY.
This guide applies to all faculty, staff, and administrators when preparing for or responding to attacks, threats, or targeting by outside groups or individuals involving issues of academic freedom.
III. POLICY.
This guide is designed to assist Occidental College faculty, staff, and administrators in developing strategies to protect academic freedom that may come under threat from individuals or groups outside the College. Faculty whose work addresses divisive issues, or whose scholarly viewpoints may be considered controversial may find themselves targets of unwelcome attacks, in virtual (or actual) space. We recognize that such targeting may be disproportionately experienced by faculty of color and those that are underrepresented in their fields of study.
This guide includes a set of practices and strategies that the institution can take to assist faculty that are faced with such situations, and also provides practical advice that faculty themselves can take to respond in the event that they are targeted by individuals or groups outside of the College based on the content of their scholarship and teaching. It addresses potential concerns arising in such situations and lists resources available to assist individual faculty members, department chairs, and other administrators. This guide is “content neutral,” in that it is designed to offer support for faculty members across a wide spectrum of views and areas of research.
The foundation for this guide is Occidental’s unwavering support for academic freedom and freedom of expression. As stated in the Faculty Handbook, “Occidental resolutely reaffirms its commitment to academic freedom … colleges and universities serve the common good through learning, teaching, research, and scholarship; and the fulfillment of this function necessarily rests upon the preservation of the intellectual freedoms of teaching, expression, research, and debate. All components of the academic community have a responsibility to exemplify and support these freedoms in the interests of reasoned inquiry.” The faculty’s right to academic freedom includes controversial issues or ideas that may provoke public disagreement. Through this guide, and other means, the College seeks to protect faculty against the intimidation or violence that the expression of unpopular ideas and controversial research sometimes generates.
This guide focuses on threats to or harassment of faculty members from outside the College. For information about policies and procedures governing discrimination, harassment and retaliation committed by Oxy employees or students, please see Oxy’s Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy, and other Oxy policies governing workplace behavior. In addition, community members should be familiar with the College’s Threat Assessment Policy, to understand how to respond in situations in which a member of the Oxy community may pose a threat to the safety of others.
In matters of safety and security, individual faculty members are encouraged to make use of campus resources to assist them in responding to an immediate situation, as well as to address any concerns that arise in the longer term. Knowing about relevant resources and guidance in advance of a crisis will help members of our community respond more effectively when a situation arises.
The following section offers suggestions for individuals in various roles, including:
- College Leadership
- Individual Faculty Member
- Department Chair
- Academic Administration
- Marketing and Communications
1. Guidelines for College Leadership (President and/or Board Chair)
As the public face of the institution, the President’s stance on matters of academic freedom is important as both a guiding principle of the College’s core values, and should form the basis of a full-throated defense of academic freedom whenever a faculty member is targeted.
College Leadership |
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2. Guidelines for the Individual Faculty Member
Identify your primary concerns and seek out assistance to help ensure your safety. The following suggestions may be of use in your personal safety planning.
Individual Faculty Member |
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IV. POLICY HISTORY.
Responsible Officer(s): Vice President of Academic Affairs
Last Revised Date: December 6, 2023
(with attribution to University of Iowa, adapted with permission).
V. RELATED POLICIES AND RESOURCES.
Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy
Facing Harassment on Social Media: Know Your Options
Oxy ITS Online Safety and Security