Community College Students: Case Study

The goal of academia is to create an atmosphere that allows individuals to seek truth, discover knowledge, and stimulate an ongoing dialogue of inquiry that challenges the status quo (Kaplin & Lee, 2007). To support these ideas, faculty academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the student’s right to freedom of speech are protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment in public institutions. Understanding these concepts have significance for emerging effective community college leaders. The assigned scenario depicts a professor whose controversial book and perspectives of homosexuality not only upset the classroom but spilled out onto campus in the form of rallies and protests. This paper will explore the issues that administrators should consider when responding to incidents of academic freedom and speech for faculty and students. According to the American Association of University Professors, academic freedom allow faculty the right to “research, teach, write and publish” and freedom of expression protects faculty from
Students have the right to peaceful protests and demonstrations that do not inflict harm on others individuals or disrupt the learning environment. Tinker v. DesMoines Independent Community College School District (1969), supported the student’s peaceful protest and determinized that the students would not face suspension or other disciplinary action as a result. Cloud states that students are consumers that have a contractual relationship with the institution in which frames and regulates the rules, state laws, and federal statutes. In the end, it is the college that has the authority and responsibility to maintain an environment that is free from disruption, respects the rights of others and conducive to