June 4, 2003

Provost James V. Maher
Office of the Provost
826 Cathedral of Learning


Dear Jim:

I am writing to report on the actions and conclusions of the ad hoc 
Committee on Academic Freedom that you convened and charged on June 4, 
2002 to provide you with advice on the current role of the principles of 
academic freedom in governance, decision making and curricular development 
at the University of Pittsburgh at this point in time, and most especially 
on the challenges that may be posed by less traditional academic 
activities in an environment in which the University supports its 
education, research, and service missions through an ever more complex mix 
of funding streams.

During the summer of 2002 your staff worked with the Chair of the 
Committee to compile a library of readings on the history, principles, and 
legal status of academic freedom.  These materials were circulated to the 
members of the Committee in the late summer and discussed at a series of 
meetings during the Fall Term.  As the Committee developed a consensus 
understanding of the continuing importance of the principles of academic 
freedom in the modern academic world, the background materials helped to 
frame the Statement on Academic Freedom that the Committee began to debate 
in December and finalized last week.  

During the Fall Term, the Chair circulated a survey memo to the Deans of 
the University's degree-granting schools and campuses with regard to 
examples of non-traditional instructional methodologies and programs that 
take the teacher/student relationship outside the traditional 
classroom/library/laboratory context.  Over the next few months the 
Committee reviewed responses to this survey and met with many of the 
Associate Deans or Deans involved, including the Associate Dean of 
Engineering, the Vice Dean of Medicine, the Director of Field Education in 
the School of Social Work, the Dean and Associate Dean of the School of 
Information Sciences, the Dean and Associate Dean of the School of Law, 
the Dean of the School of Dental Medicine, the Dean and Associate Dean of 
the College of General Studies, the Interim Dean of Pharmacy, and the 
Interim Associate Dean of Nursing.  The Committee also met with Vice 
Provost for Research George Klinzing and Dr. Jerry Rosenberg, the 
University Research Integrity Officer.

To ensure that the Committee had received input from as broad a range of 
interested parties as possible the Committee held a well-publicized and 
well-attended open meeting on February 10, 2003.  

During the Spring Term the Chair circulated a second memo to the Deans of 
degree-granting schools and campuses soliciting information on behalf of 
the Committee with regard to how individual schools do or would respond to 
circumstances in which external decisions reduce or eliminate funds that 
support research or instructional programs within their school.  The 
Committee reviewed and discussed the responses to this memo and factored 
the Committee's analysis of these responses into the final Statement.

As the discussions of the Committee evolved, the group became convinced 
that it would be beneficial to have in place a structure and process that 
you could use to solicit well-informed advice on circumstances that arise, 
and administrative actions that they entail, that may have implications 
for the academic freedom of individual faculty members, of academic units 
within the University, or of the University as a whole-the proposed 
structure and procedure are described in the motion adopted by the 
Committee at its April 16, 2003 meeting and placed in context within the 
Statement.

The Committee has now completed its work and the attached Statement on 
Academic Freedom summarizes its conclusions and recommendations.  
Additional materials that you may find helpful include the background 
materials collected last summer, the minutes of the meetings of the 
Committee, the two survey memos sent to the Deans of degree-granting 
schools and campuses, and the written responses received to those memos.  
All of the additional materials are in a file maintained in the Office of 
the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (currently staffed by Mrs. Linda 
Wykoff, who provided excellent staff support to the Committee throughout 
the year).

Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to all of our colleagues 
who gave generously of their time, experience and insights through service 
on the Committee or through working with the Committee.

				Sincerely,




				N. John Cooper
				Dean


NJC:kxm

cc:	Members of the Provost's ad hoc Committee on Academic Freedom