Published Date

March 5, 1974

From the Report of the AHA Committee on the Rights of Historians (1974)

The following questions about you as an individual are designed to make it possible to correlate the personal characteristics of respondents with their observations and opinions regarding academic freedom. Please check or circle the correct option or that which is most nearly correct. The relative frequency of the responses in percentages is included in brackets after each possible choice. [Editor’s note–brackets were removed in the web version of this report.]

1. My age is

(1) 60 or over 7.2
(2) 50 to 59 16.2
(3) 40 to 49 26.8
(4) 30 to 39 37.6
(5) Under 30 12.1

 

2. Sex

(1) Male 91.0
(2) Female 8.6

 

 

3. Ethnic group

(1) Latin 0.3
(2) Black American 0.5
(3) American Indian 0.2
(4) Asian-American 0.8
(5) White 95.8
(6) Other 2.0

 

4. Rank

(1) Professor 35.1
(2) Associate Professor 22.3
(3) Assistant Professor 27.2
(4) Instructor 7.2
(5) Lecturer 1.8
(6) Other 3.9
(7) Employed less than full time 1.4
(8) Unemployed 1.0

 

5. Current tenure situation

(1) Permanent (continuing) tenure 57.7
(2) Probationary tenure leading toward consideration for permanent tenure 13.0
(3) Renewable annual appointment 19.5
(4) Other 8.8

 

6. Salary

(1) Over $20,000 14.4
(2) $15,000 to $19,999 25.7
(3) $10,000 to $14,000 47.3
(4) Less than $10,000 11.7

 

7. How much of your professional activity as a historian is related to teaching and how much to scholarship?

(1) I think of myself as a teacher of history 14.4
(2) I think of myself as primarly a teacher, but I also spend some of my time doing research and writing 61.4
(3) I think of myself primarily as a scholar doing research and writing, but teaching is also a significant part of my professional life 20.6
(4) I think of myself as a scholar and spend most of my time as a historian doing research and writing 1.8

 

8. Have you ever served as chairman of a History department?

(1) Yes 28.1
(2) No 71.5

 

9. Have you ever served as an officer in the administration of a college or university?

(1) Yes 15.8
(2) No 83.5

10. My primary area of interest is

(1) U.S. 46.3
(2) England and/or Commonwealth nations 10.0
(3) Western Europe 26.1
(4) Eastern Europe and/or Russia 5.7
(5) East Asia 3.4
(6) Middle East 1.5
(7) Africa 1.6
(8) Latin America 4.1

 

11. On political matters, do you think you are to the left or to the right of

To Left To Right About Same Don’t Know
(1) Most of the trustees of your institution 78.9 2.0 9.7 7.6
(2) Most of the officers of the administration 63.9 4.6 25.3 4.8
(3) Most of the faculty 43.3 12.9 39.2 3.4
(4) Most of the alumni 71.5 2.8 10.4 13.6
(5) Most of the students 38.9 19.0 30.7 9.7
(6) Most of the people in the area around your institution 79.7 4.1 10.6 4.4

 

II. The questions in Part II are intended to establish a basis for correlating problems of academic freedom with their institutional setting.

12. The total student enrollment at my institution is

(1) Over 18,000 19.7
(2) 12,000 to 18,000 13.3
(3) 5,000 to 12,000 25.0
(4) 2,000 to 5,000 19.7
(5) Under 2,000 21.6

 

13. My institution enrolls

(1) Freshmen and sophomores only 7.7
(2) Undergraduates only 18.3
(3) Undergraduates and candidates for the master’s degree 30.4
(4) Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral candidates, and students in professional schools but only a small percentage (5%) of the students are graduates 9.5
(5) Undergraduates and a substantial number of candidates for master’s degrees, doctoral degrees, and students in professional schools 31.9
(6) Graduate students only 0.5

 

14. The student body at my institution is

(1) Preponderantly white 96.9
(2) Preponderantly black 1.9

 

15. My institution is

(1) sponsored by a state government 55.8
(2) sponsored by a municipal or other local government 6.6
(3) sponsored by a private organization without religious
connections, or with religious connections that have
little or no effect on academic and administrative
decisions
9.0
(4) sponsored by a private organization with religious
connections that have a substantial effect on
academic and administrative decisions
10.5
(5) a privately endowed institution 17.2

 

16. My institution is situated in

(1) a place of 1.000,000 or more population 18.5
(2) a place of 100, 000 to 500, 000 25.5
(3) a place of 25, 000 to 100, 000 27.3
(4) a place of 10, 000 to 25, 000 14.6
(5) a place of less than 10, 000 12.6

 

17. My institution is located in

(1) New England States 11.5
(2) Middle Atlantic 24.8
(3) East North central 17.4
(4) West North central 10.4
(5) South Atlantic 7.7
(6) East South central 5.5
(7) West South central 6.3
(8) Mountain 3.1
(9) Pacific 13.3

 

18. Please indicate the agency or office in which decisions on the problems or issues listed below are effectively (as opposed to officially) made. Enter the letter indicating the correct option in the box opposite each kind of decision.
(a) The whole faculty of the department, or standing committees representing all three professorial ranks
(b) The senior staff or tenured staff of the department
(c) The chairman after some consultation with the department
(d) The chairman with little or no consultation with the department
(e) The administration, in consultation with the department
(f) The administration, without consultation, or in consultation with the chairman only

Kinds of decisions a b c d e f
(1) Course content of surveys 72.4 3.6 5.1 1.3 1.9 1.1
(2) New appointments 37.4 14.4 13.5 3.7 16.5 9.0
(3) Promotions 14.9 30.8 6.1 3.4 20.6 15.9
(4) Award of permanent tenure 11.5 31.2 5.0 1.5 25.0 17.4
(5) Dismissal or termination 13.7 25.9 6.4 2.4 22.6 20.0
(6) Selection of new chairman 34.1 5.6 1.4 0.3 34.2 16.3
(7) Instructional assignments 30.8 2.9 42.6 7.8 3.2 2.5
(8) Appoinment of gradute students as assistants, preceptors, or instructors 26.0 4.8 18.7 6.4 3.4 2.3
(9) Bachelor degree requirements 51.9 1.9 2.2 .04 18.3 7.2
(10) Graduate degree requirements 35.3 5.6 1.9 0.3 14.5 5.5

 

III. The questions in Part III deal with your experiences and observations of conditions in the profession.

19. Thinking back over the past five years (since academic year 1965-66) do you know of any cases of teachers who probably would have been added to the staff at your institution if they had not had controversial political views?

(1) Yes, I know of several such cases 7.4
(2) Yes, I know of such a case 13.7
(3) No, I do not know of any case 77.2

 

20. Do you know of anyone who is no longer teaching at your institution as a result of his political views?

(1) Yes, I know of such a case 23.6
(2) Yes, I know of several such cases 10.2
(3) No, I do not know of any case 64.1

 

21. Do you think it is possible at your institution that a person with slightly greater merit but who is unconventional could be passed over for a permanent appointment in favor of a man with somewhat less merit who is conventional?

(1) Yes, I think it might happen 73.3
(2) No that would not happen 23.4

 

22. Do considerations of any of the following kinds of behavior affect the personnel decisions (recruitment, initial appointment, renewal, promotion, award of permanent tenure, dismissal) made by your department or your administration? In the boxes opposite each kind of behavior place the letter designating the appropriate phrase.
(a) This has been expressly stated by the decision making body.
(b) I have direct knowledge that it affects such decisions.
(c) I have some reason to suspect that it affects such decisions.
(d) I have no reason to believe it affects such decisions.
(e) I know that it does not affect such decisions.
(f) The issue has not arisen.
(g) I do not know whether it affects such decisions.

 

Kinds of behavior Department Administration
Kinds of behavior a b c d e f g a b c d e f g
(1) Participation in non-violent, non-obstructive demonstration, on campus 1.6 4.1 13.0 33.9 18.6 13.2 4.3 4.3 8.2 23.5. 30.3 7.6 8.9 7.8
(2) Participation in non-violent but obstructive demonstration, on campus 3.8 5.3 19.9 16.5 7.1 30.4 5.5 10.3 9.1 27.6 9.6 2.1 23.3 8.7
(3) Participatin in non-violent, non-obstructive demonstration, off campus 0.9 2.8 9.3 32.6 19.2 17.3 6.2 2.5 4.8 19.4 29.8 10.2 12.5 10.8
(4) Participation in non-violent but obstructive demonstration, off campus 1.6 3.5 14.5 21.8 8.4 30.2 8.0 4.1 5.2 24.0 16.3 3.4 24.0 12.7
(5) Radical Political beliefs 1.0 4.7 19.0 32.5 17.4 9.8 4.6 2.0 8.9 29.9 26.0 7.1 6.5 10.0
(6) Right-wing political beliefs 0.3 3.2 12.5 34.7 15.2 16.3 6.6 0.5 3.6 13.0 36.7 10.5 12.6 13.0
(7) Radical political activity 1.0 5.6 18.6 29.3 13.9 14.4 5.6 2.4 8.6 30.5 21.8 5.8 10.1 10.7
(8) Right-wing political activity 0.6 2.7 12.8 29.9 11.8 22.7 7.5 0.6 2.9 14.3 31.4 8.2 17.0 14.4
(9) Persistent introduction of material which has no significant relationship to the subject of the course 5.8 11.1 26.0 11.1 2.8 23.7 79. 8.5 10.5 26.4 10.7 1.9 16.6 13.9
(10) Style of Dress or appearence 1.2 3.7 14.4 33.2 22.6 9.6 4.5 1.9 4.8 20.7 32.6 14.4 6.3 9.4
(11) “Incivility” toward colleagues 1.8 12.2 31.5 11.6 4.8 20.9 6.3 2.0 10.1 30.5 13.3 3.2 15.8 14.4
(12) “Incivility” toward students 2.1 11.1 30.7 11.8 3.9 21.5 7.4 2.8 10.3 30.6 12.3 2.7 15.5 14.8
(13) Use of curse words 1.3 3.6 11.7 25.7 12.0 25.0 9.3 2.1 5.4 15.6 23.9 7.3 19.1 15.5
(14) Homosexuality 1.9 4.8 11.6 14.7 5.8 37.3 12.2 2.8 8.7 14.2 12.9 4.0 28.8 18.2
(15) Personal sexual morality 2.7 5.4 14.4 20.3 8.7 26.0 10.8 4.2 9.0 19.6 17.4 4.8 17.4 17.4
(16) The advocacy in the classroom of doctrines, religious or secular, to which the teacher is committed without exposing students to, or allowing them to espouse, opposing points of view 4.8 7.8 23.2 11.3 3.8 27.6 9.6 7.4 8.0 24.5 10.6 2.8 19.2 15.8

 

 

23. In your institution, during the last five years, has the administration or the governing authority (regents, trustees) overruled a recommendation of your department on new appointment, contract renewal, promotion, tenure, or dismissal when you have had reason to believe that their decision was based on something other than a judgment about professional achievement, length or adequacy of service, or budgetary limitations?

(1) Not at all 62.4
(2) Only once 12.3
(3) More than once 15.4

 

24. Which of the following statements best characterizes the criteria governing personnel recommendations made at your institution with respect to your department?

(1) Candidates are judged exclusively on their qualifications for the position. 57.6
(2) Candidates are judged on their qualifications for the position, but the anticipated reaction of the administration or governing body is taken into account, to the disadvantage of one or more candidates. 28.9
(3) No candidate, whatever his qualifications, will be recommended if the administration or governing board is likely to reject the recommendation. 8.1

 

25. Which of the following statements best describes the departmental atmosphere in which you teach and study?

(1) Intellectual boldness is favorably regarded, encouraged, and rewarded. 6.2
(2) Intellectual diversity is taken for granted, and members who arrive honestly and reasonably at unorthodox positions will be defended in their right to express them. 61.1
(3) Members may take unorthodox positions, but are expected to express them pru dently so as not to attract the attention of the administration, the governing authority, the institution’s public constituency, or the press. 21.6
(4) Members conceal unorthodox opinions for fear of penalty, although no penalties for unorthodoxy are known to have been imposed. 4.0
(5) Intellectual unorthodoxy is known to be penalized by the department or the administration. 4.4

 

26. Have you within the last five years experienced any instance of intervention or intimidation in some area of your professional life? If so, please indicate it by using one or more letters offered in the following key in the blank opposite the type of activity which triggered the intervention.
Kinds of Intervention
(a) “Friendly advice” by a senior colleague, chairman, or administrator
(b) Admonition
(c) A formal directive, requirement, or prohibition
(d) Threat of non-renewal, non-promotion, loss of salary increment
(e) Termination, dismissal, denial of salary increase
(f) Surveillance by some group or agency outside your institution

 

Areas of Activity a b c d e f
(1) Political activity outside the institution as a private citizen 5.5 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.7 1.6
(2) The advocacy of political action within the institution, but outside the classroom 6.2 1.4 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.5
(3) Politial action within the institution, but outside the classroom 4.6 1.1 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.8
(4) Faculty action to defend academic freedom 5.1 1.5 0.6 1.1 0.7 0.3
(5) Faculty action regarding tenure, salaries, benefits, or other professional and economics concerns 6.9 1.8 0.8 1.4 0.9 0.3
(6) Content, emphasis, or interpretation in the courses you teach 6.7 0.8 1.1 0.6 0.3 0.5
(7) Kinds of reading assigned to students 10.6 1.7 1.5 0.5 0.2 0.3
(8) Standards used in grading students 10.6 1.7 1.5 0.5 0.2 0.3
(9) Defense of the rights of one or more colleagues 5.8 1.7 0.5 1.0 0.6 0.3
(10) Defense of the rights of one or more students 4.4 1.2 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.1
(11) Your teaching style or pedagogic techniques 6.7 1.1 0.5 0.8 0.5 0.2
(12) Your own dress, demeanor, comportment, and “life style” 6.3 0.8 0.4 0.8 0.3 0.1
(13) Radical activity within a professional organization 1.9 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.1

 

27. During the past five years, to what extent has your academic freedom been threatened or diminished by movements within the faculty and/or the student body? Use the letters offered in the following key.
Key
(a) Neither threatened nor diminished
(b) Threatened but not seriously diminished
(c) Threatened so that you have modified the positions you might wish to take, avoided certain topics, acquiesced in discussions irrelevant to the course, cancelled classes, altered grading standards, or responded in other self-limiting ways, against your judgment and volition
(d) Threatened so that you have suffered sanctions or penalties imposed by the administration, your chairman, faculty bodies, or student committees or agencies
(e) Threatened so that you have suffered physical violence

 

Type of Threat a b c d e
(1) Strikes and moratoria 41.3 20.5 7.3 0.9 0.3
(2) Classroom disruptions 50.4 11.5 2.2 0.5 0.4
(3) Blacklisting or lnvidious comment in publications of student, faculty, or student-faculty 54.1 6.5 1.6 0.9 0.1
(4) Unfair ratings in student evalutations of teaching 55.2 6.4 2.0 0.3 0.1
(5) Anonymous threats via telephone, notes, graffiti 55.5 5.4 0.7 0.2 0.3
(6) “Friendly advice” from colleagues, the chairman, the administration, students or student organizations 48.8 11.3 3.8 1.5 0.1
(7) Blanket threats against the faculty as a whole 45.0 13.9 3.4 1.0 0.2

 

28. Please indicate below whether, to the best of your knowledge, the amount of effort exerted by your department on behalf of one of its own graduate students who is seeking a position elsewhere is affected by any of the following considerations. Indicate your answer by writing “yes” or “no” or “don’t know” in the blank.

Yes No Don’t Know
(1) Political opinions or political action of candidates as private citizens 5.9 43.9 12.6
(2) Features of personal appearance associated with a candidate’s values or life style 13.2 35.4 13.6
(3) Candidate’s “civility” toward superiors 20.6 25.7 15.1
(4) Candidate’s “civility” toward students 17.2 27.6 16.3
(5) Candidate’s ideological and religious commitments 6.7 42.8 12.5
(6) Morality of candidate’s private life, apart from his comportment as a student or teacher 7.9 37.3 16.6

 

IV. The final section of this questionnaire asks for your opinion about certain aspects of academic freedom.

29. In your judgment, how heavily should each of the following sorts of behavior on the part of a teacher enter into decisions on his (A) recruitment and initial appointment and (B) contract renewal, promotion, tenure, and dis-missal? Indicate your judgment in each column opposite each form of behavior using the appropriate letter from the following key.
Key
(a) Should never be considered
(b) Should be seriously considered in order to achieve balance and diversity
(c) Should be considered in the interest of diversity, but is not the most important consideration
(d) Should be seriously considered in order to protect against possible troublemakers or unethical behavior
(e) Should be considered in the interest of harmony and responsibility, but is not the most important consideration

 

Kinds of behavior Recruitment, Initial Appointment Renewal, Promotion, Tenure, Dismissal
a b c d e a b c d e
(1) Participation in non-violent, non-obstructive demonstration, on campus 70.0 2.4 6.7 3.6 12.5 71.1 2.1 5.5 3.4 12.1
(2) Participation in non-violent but obstructive demonstration, on campus 26.5 5.5 6.8 25.4 29.5 25.4 5.5 6.1 24.5 31.6
(3) Participatin in non-violent, non-obstructive demonstration, off campus 73.7 2.3 5.6 2.9 9.9 74.3 1.9 4.7 2.7 9.8
(4) Participation in non-violent but obstructive demonstration, off campus 43.3 3.9 6.1 17.5 23.1 43.1 4.0 5.6 16.7 23.8
(5) Radical Political beliefs 55.2 8.5 16.5 3.6 10.8 58.1 7.0 14.3 3.4 11.0
(6) Right-wing political beliefs 53.6 8.7 16.9 3.8 11.3 56.2 7.2 14.4 3.8 11.7
(7) Radical political activity 49.2 7.2 14.1 7.4 15.6 50.6 6.4 12.5 7.0 16.2
(8) Right-wing political activity 48.0 7.2 14.5 7.5 15.8 49.2 6.3 12.9 7.0 16.6
(9) Persistent introduction of material which has no significant relationship to the subject of the course 5.8 11.1 5.9 45.9 20.1 4.7 11.2 5.8 46.3 21.1
(10) Style of Dress or appearence 69.5 1.8 5.5 2.2 15.2 70.2 1.7 4.8 1.8 14.8
(11) “Incivility” toward colleagues 16.8 4.8 5.1 19.0 47.0 16.6 4.8 4.8 19.2 47.1
(12) “Incivility” toward students 8.4 5.7 3.9 33.6 40.2 8.1 5.9 3.6 33.4 40.4
(13) Use of curse words 46.7 2.3 3.1 13.6 26.4 46.6 2.4 2.9 13.4 26.4
(14) Homosexuality 53.6 1.5 1.6 19.7 16.8 53.3 1.5 1.7 19.4 17.0
(15) Personal sexual morality 55.7 1.3 1.5 15.2 19.2 54.8 1.2 1.7 15.2 19.5
(16) The advocacy in the classroom of doctrines, religious or secular, to which the teacher is committed without exposing students to, or allowing them to espouse, opposing points of view 6.8 14.0 4.7 50.3 14.2 6.7 13.8 4.7 50.5 13.9

 

30. Do you think that ideological diversity is a positive good which should be encouraged by your department?

(1) Yes 59.0
(2) No, ideology is a consideration but diversity is not necessarily good 8.3
(3) Ideology should be irrelevant 27.0
(4) No opinion 2.8

 

 

31. Do you think that methodological diversity is a positive good which should be encouraged by your department?

(1) Yes 80.0
(2) No, methodology is a consideration but diversity is not necessarily good 6.7
(3) Methodology should be irrelevant 8.4
(4) No opinion 2.3

 

32. Omitted–faulty question. Impossible to score.

33. Please rate, according to the criteria listed below, the presumed effectiveness of the following agencies in defending you or colleagues in your department against serious violations of academic freedom
(a) Not available to my faculty
(b) Would probably acquiesce in a serious violation of academic freedom
(c) Would protest a serious violation of academic freedom but take no determined action
(d) Would oppose with determination and persistence any serious

a b c d
(1) The governing authority (trustees, board) 7.5 43.9 20.7 13.9
(2) The administration 1.5 29.8 31.3 26.9
(3) The general faculty or faculty senate 1.6 9.7 38.9 41.3
(4) A faculty appeals board 12.9 5.9 24.7 43.8
(5) The departmental chairman 1.4 10.1 22.1 57.4
(6) Local chapter of the AAUP 6.3 3.8 28.6 46.9
(7) National office of the AAUP 3.9 3.2 22.1 53.3
(8) Some other organization interested in academic freedom 13.6 1.7 8.8 26.4

 

34. Which of the following statements most nearly reflects your view of the role the AHA should play in defending academic freedom.

(1) The administration of my institution is capable of defending the faculty and its individual members against attacks on what I regard as academic freedom. 8.4
(2) The faculty of my institution and my department is sufficiently strong, resolute, and well organized to defend the academic freedom of faculty members. 20.7
(3) The administration and faculty cannot defend academic freedom at this institution, and faculty members need the AAUP or a comparable organization for the effective defense of their academic rights. These organizations offer sufficient protection. 13.6
(4) There is a need for the AHA to play a role in protecting the rights of its members by sup plementing the work of other organizations. 32.5
(5) The administration, the faculty, the .AAUP, and comparable national and regional associations are insufficient to deal effectively with problems of academic freedom at my institution, and the AHA should establish machinery and procedures for assisting with such problems. 11.0
(6) The administration, the faculty, the AAUP, and comparable national and regional associations are insufficient to deal effectively with problems of academic freedom at my institution, but the AHA should not concern itself with these problems. 2.6
(7) The problems of academic freedom at my insti tution are such that none of the agencies mentioned above, including the AHA, can effectively defend faculty members against them. 6.4
No Answer 4.9

 

Next section: Appendix B