The Assembly of the Academic Senate has approved a code of professional conduct governing faculty expression or advocacy for political views. The Faculty Code of Conduct is outlined in the Academic Personnel Manual, section 015.

Since faculty members are obligated to encourage "the free pursuit of learning," failure to meet the responsibilities of instruction may render faculty members subject to disciplinary action. Such failures include "(a) arbitrary denial of access to instruction; (b) significant intrusion of material unrelated to the course; (c) significant failure to adhere, without legitimate reason, to the rules of the faculty in the conduct of courses, to meet class, to keep office hours, or to hold examinations as scheduled; (d) evaluation of student work by criteria not directly reflective of student performance; and (e) undue and unexcused delay in evaluating student work." For the full text, see the Academic Personnel Manual.

Faculty members have at times accommodated politics and education by devoting part of a class to discussion of a political issue, often as it relates to the subject of the class. Faculty have also rescheduled classes if they or their students wanted to attend a rally; but rescheduling is an option only if all students agree to attend the class at the new time and appropriate administrative approvals are obtained. Faculty who cancel classes to show sympathy for a political event or cause may be held accountable for failure to hold class at the assigned time.

last updated on 3/14/07