No right to stay

No, this is not about the current occupant of the Palace, although my having joined former senior government officials in denouncing the way the current administration runs roughshod over truth and the law should show where my sympathies lie.

This is about faculty members that cry “Academic Freedom” when threatened with dismissal by school authorities for violating school rules.

Such faculty members should look at the Supreme Court decision in the case of the University of the Philippines and Alfredo de Torres vs. Civil Service Commission (G.R. No. 132860, April 3, 2001).

In that decision, the Court said unequivocally: “We have held time and again that ‘the University has the academic freedom to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.’ Clearly, this freedom encompasses the autonomy to choose who should teach and, concomitant therewith, who should be retained in its rolls of professors and other academic personnel. This Court declared in Ateneo de Manila University v. Capulong: ‘As corporate entities, educational institutions of higher learning are inherently endowed with the right to establish their policies, academic and otherwise, unhampered by external controls or pressure.’”

The school’s administration, then, has the right to hire or fire teachers. Teachers cannot claim academic freedom as a defense against being fired.

In the United States, someone can be fired just by saying, “You’re fired.” Says Ronald B. Standler in “Academic Freedom in the USA”: “Untenured professors are at-will employees. Under the doctrine of at-will employment, an employer can dismiss an employee for any reason, no reason at all, or even a morally repugnant reason.”

Fortunately, because we are a bit more protective of the rights of workers, we need due process to fire a teacher in the Philippines. Nevertheless, after such due process, a teacher can still be fired for not following school regulations, even if these regulations are not academic (such as wearing a uniform, not smoking on campus, or observing office hours).

Our Court of Appeals made this crystal clear: “Academic freedom does not mean that a faculty member cannot be dismissed.” (25 August 2005, CA-G.R. SP No. 83614, Far Eastern University vs. National Labor Relations Commission and Feliza Samaniego.)

If this sounds like a brief for school administrators faced with disciplining unruly faculty members, that is because it is. I am tired of hearing teachers use the term “academic freedom” every time they feel harassed by administrators.

There are, however, certain teachers that can legitimately claim academic freedom when they defy school administrators ordering them to teach in a certain way. Such teachers are not many, but they still constitute a distinct class of intellectuals that have to be exempted from school rules, not just operational procedures, but even academic policies (such as adhering to a prescribed syllabus or textbook, or in the case of a sectarian school, teaching according to the tenets of a particular religion).

These are the intellectuals referred to in Cardinal Newman’s “The Idea of a University.” They are the think tank of the world. They are the reason the idea of academic freedom was born. (to be continued)

NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS: Publishers are reminded to send at least seven (7) copies of their best 2007 books immediately to the National Book Awards secretariat of the National Book Development Board (NBDB), if they want their books considered for the November awards. Please put this notice on the package: “ATTN: Manila Critics Circle, c/o NBDB).

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS: There will be a free workshop on online publishing for journal editors on May 12-23 at Ateneo de Manila University. Email me for details ([email protected]).

FULBRIGHT ALUMNI: There will be a general meeting of the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association on April 18. All alumni of the Fulbright program are invited to attend the meeting. Those that have not yet paid their annual membership fees should get in touch with the Philippine American Educational Foundation (www.paef.org.ph).

“WORDS OF THE DAY” (English/Filipino) for next week’s elementary school classes: Mar. 10 Monday: 1. lie/multo, 2. regret/molave, 3. tomato/modo, 4. fern/monumento, 5. talisay/monamon, 6. decorum/mulawin; Mar. 11 Tuesday: 1. bean/mike, 2. bush/miyembro, 3. olive/moda, 4. steal/misyon, 5. carnation/milagro, 6. heritage/oyayi; Mar. 12 Wednesday: 1. vine/miki, 2. wash/miswa, 3. cashew/minuto, 4. cheat/mina, 5. chestnut/menudo, 6. fallacy/oxygen; Mar. 13 Thursday: 1. pine/nguyngoy, 2. turn/ngutngot, 3. mango/ngiti, 4. barrio/ñorbo, 5. comparison/ñocha; Mar. 14 Friday: 1. tree/nguso, 2. bronze/ngongo, 3. orchid/ngitngit, 4. gardenia/ñu, 5. divulge/ñacanina. The numbers after the dates indicate grade level. The dates refer to the official calendar for public elementary schools. For definitions of the words in Filipino, consult UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino.