The Future of the Professoriate: Academic Freedom, Peer Review, and Shared Governance Export

@misc{citeulike:4403951, abstract = {In recent decades, a combination of market changes and failures of the professions to respond proactively to them has led to an ongoing renegotiation of the social contracts of the peer-review professions (e.g., medicine, law, the professoriate, and accounting). The social contract of each profession is the tacit agreement between society and members of the profession that regulates their relationship with each other, in particular the profession's control over professional work. Members of each peer-review profession and their professional organizations carry an ongoing burden to justify to the public (and to those who represent the public, such as boards of trustees and senior academic management) why the profession deserves special rights of control over its work different from the control that society and employers exercise over other occupations. Carrying this burden of justification is particiularly critical in times of rapid market change. For example, the current recession is a time of great market pressure on higher education when decreasing state budgets and endowments mean that expenditures must be cut. To maintain its control over professional work, the professoriate should be offering an agressive defense of the public benefits derived from the acdemic professsion's social contract. A robust defense is also necessary if ethical failures by individual professionals become widely known and undermine public trust in the profession's social contract. This essay's central argument is that members of a peer-review profession cannot aggressively justify and defend their control over professional work when they do not understand the social contract and their duties under it. The continuing failure of the academic profession adequately to socialize its members has resulted in a steady erosion of the profession's rights of academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance. The profession at each college and university must address this failure. Part I of this essay outlines the specific areas where boards and academic management are renegotiating the profession's social contract. Part II develops further the concept of the social contract of peer-review professions generally and how these social contracts that create occupational control over work in a market economy must be constantly justified as being in the public good. Part II then analyzes the particular elements of the academic profession's social contract: academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance, with all these elements supported by the concept of faculty professionalism. Part III explores whether the academic profession can defend academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance. Part III also raises a series of questions that the professoriate at each institution should ask and answer. The essay concludes with suggestions about what faculty members can and should do to protect academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance.}, address = {1818 R Street, NW Washington, DC 20009}, author = {Hamilton, Neil W. and Gaff, Jerry G.}, citeulike-article-id = {4403951}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {https://secure.aacu.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?section=unknown&task=3&CATEGORY=FAC&PRODUCT_TYPE=SALES&SKU=FUTUREPROF&DESCRIPTION=&FindSpec=&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=&utm_source=pubs&utm_medium=blast&utm_campaign=futureprof}, institution = {Association of American Colleges \& Universities}, isbn = {978-0-9796181-9-2}, keywords = {academe, academic, education, educational, freedom, governance, peer, professoriate, responsibility, review, shared}, posted-at = {2009-04-25 18:12:47}, priority = {4}, publisher = {AAC\&U Communications}, series = {The Future of the Professoriate: Academic Freedom, Peer Review, and Shared Governance}, title = {The Future of the Professoriate: Academic Freedom, Peer Review, and Shared Governance}, url = {https://secure.aacu.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?section=unknown&task=3&CATEGORY=FAC&PRODUCT_TYPE=SALES&SKU=FUTUREPROF&DESCRIPTION=&FindSpec=&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=&utm_source=pubs&utm_medium=blast&utm_campaign=futureprof}, year = {2009} }

TY - GEN ID - citeulike:4403951 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4403951 N2 - In recent decades, a combination of market changes and failures of the professions to respond proactively to them has led to an ongoing renegotiation of the social contracts of the peer-review professions (e.g., medicine, law, the professoriate, and accounting). The social contract of each profession is the tacit agreement between society and members of the profession that regulates their relationship with each other, in particular the profession's control over professional work. Members of each peer-review profession and their professional organizations carry an ongoing burden to justify to the public (and to those who represent the public, such as boards of trustees and senior academic management) why the profession deserves special rights of control over its work different from the control that society and employers exercise over other occupations. Carrying this burden of justification is particiularly critical in times of rapid market change. For example, the current recession is a time of great market pressure on higher education when decreasing state budgets and endowments mean that expenditures must be cut. To maintain its control over professional work, the professoriate should be offering an agressive defense of the public benefits derived from the acdemic professsion's social contract. A robust defense is also necessary if ethical failures by individual professionals become widely known and undermine public trust in the profession's social contract. This essay's central argument is that members of a peer-review profession cannot aggressively justify and defend their control over professional work when they do not understand the social contract and their duties under it. The continuing failure of the academic profession adequately to socialize its members has resulted in a steady erosion of the profession's rights of academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance. The profession at each college and university must address this failure. Part I of this essay outlines the specific areas where boards and academic management are renegotiating the profession's social contract. Part II develops further the concept of the social contract of peer-review professions generally and how these social contracts that create occupational control over work in a market economy must be constantly justified as being in the public good. Part II then analyzes the particular elements of the academic profession's social contract: academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance, with all these elements supported by the concept of faculty professionalism. Part III explores whether the academic profession can defend academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance. Part III also raises a series of questions that the professoriate at each institution should ask and answer. The essay concludes with suggestions about what faculty members can and should do to protect academic freedom, peer review, and shared governance. SE - The Future of the Professoriate: Academic Freedom, Peer Review, and Shared Governance SN - 978-0-9796181-9-2 AD - 1818 R Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 TI - The Future of the Professoriate: Academic Freedom, Peer Review, and Shared Governance PB - AAC&U Communications KW - academe KW - academic KW - education KW - educational KW - freedom KW - governance KW - peer KW - professoriate KW - responsibility KW - review KW - shared AU - Hamilton, Neil AU - Gaff, Jerry PY - 2009/// UR - https://secure.aacu.org/source/Orders/index.cfm?section=unknown&task=3&CATEGORY=FAC&PRODUCT_TYPE=SALES&SKU=FUTUREPROF&DESCRIPTION=&FindSpec=&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=&utm_source=pubs&utm_medium=blast&utm_campaign=futureprof ER -