In an article for Inside Higher Ed, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Audrey Anderson discussed the disciplinary process at universities related to compliance with unwritten policies. Following the Trump administration’s order and a new federal government definition recognizing only two genders, some colleges and universities have implemented unwritten policies that ban professors from recognizing multiple gender identities in their course material. However, some of these universities are not writing a formal policy about the change, leaving many unanswered questions for faculty.
Noting the tension between academic freedom and the verbal instruction in what can be taught during a course, Audrey said, “It’s possible that universities’ faculty handbooks include a provision that requires faculty members to follow spoken directives from their supervisors, which officials could use to justify these policies.”
To challenge any unwritten policy or rule, Audrey said that professors would “have to be disciplined first before there’s a formal way that they can dispute [the rule]. Otherwise they complain about it in a department meeting, or write an open letter to the president of the university saying, ‘This is wrong. It goes against academic freedom.’ But in terms of being able to formally dispute it, they have to wait until they get disciplined.”
The full article, “‘Because I Said So’: Universities Double Down on Unwritten Policies,” was published on October 22 by Inside Higher Ed and is available online.