Recommendations from the Office of Legal Affairs
February 2017
This is a distillation of information received in a formal inquiry for guidance from the Provost, who referred the question to Legal Affairs. This summary addresses topics of (a) Academic Freedom, (b) Political Campaign Activities, (c) Lobbying Activities, and (d) Discussing Religion. Daanika Gordon and Pam Oliver turned the legalese into takeaways.
Academic Freedom
Formal Rules:
“Instructors enjoy the academic freedom ‘to discuss and present scholarly opinions and conclusions regarding all relevant matters in the classroom, to explore all avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression, and the reach conclusions according to one’s scholarly discernment.'” (FPP Sec. 8.01(B))
“Academic responsibility implies the faithful performance of professional duties and obligations, the recognition of the demands of the scholarly enterprise, and the candor to make it clear that when one is speaking on matters of public interest or concern, one is speaking on behalf of oneself, not the institution.” (FPP Sec. 8.01(C)).
Take Aways:
- Adhere to the subject matter of the course and avoid topics that are, fairly speaking, outside of those subject(s)
- Distinguish personal opinions from institutional positions
- Recognize the demands of the scholarly enterprise and exercise professional judgment in preparing and delivering course content
Resources:
Political Campaign Activities
Formal Rules:
“As a university employee, your political campaign activities are restricted by Regent policy and state law in three significant ways: (1) You may not engage in political campaign activities during your work time; (2) You may not use state resources to engage in political campaign activities at any time; and (3) You may not solicit contributions or services for a political purpose from other university employees while they are engaged in their official duties.” (Wis. Stat. § 11.1207).
Political campaign activity can include, among other things, solicitation of campaign contributions, service in furtherance of candidates, political parties and political action committees, and advocating a particular position on a referendum. Further, there should be awareness that comments regarding the specific actions, positions, or records of a particular candidate may be perceived as support or endorsement by the institution of a particular candidate or political party.
Take Aways:
- It is a violation of state law for university employees to engage in political campaign activities while at work. It is a violation of state law to engage in political campaign activities in your role as in instructor.
- If discussion of candidates’ specific actions, positions or records are germane to the content of your class, exercise great care in the presentation of this material to avoid campaigning or the appearance of campaigning.
- As a private citizen, you are free to engage in political activities on your own time and with your own resources
Resources:
Lobbying Activities
Formal Rules:
- Written or oral communications with legislators, legislative staff, the governor, the governor’s staff, or other agency officials involved in the legislative process (“state officials”) made to influence legislation constitute “lobbying” that is regulated by state law.
- University employees undertaking official duties and on behalf of the university (mainly limited to those in positions of leadership) may contact state officials on university time but this will trigger state lobbying reporting… As a result, any employee engaging in lobbying activity should contact University Relations to report the contacts made.
- University employees are free to contact state officials or others on their own time without using university resources and such activity will not require any reporting of that activity under the state’s lobbying law.
Take Aways:
- Check with University Relations or contact state officials as a private citizen.
- Using your classroom to urge others to communicate with state officials to influence legislation is likely to be viewed as lobbying and, thus, as illegal.
- Discussing the merits of proposed legislation with students is not illegal if the topic is germane to your class.
Resources:
Discussing Religion
Formal Rules:
The Supreme Court of the United States has held that the government (to which the University is part since it is a state agency) may not establish religious orthodoxy of any sort, not advance a specific religion nor promote religion. (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), citing other cases holding the same).
Take Aways:
Unless the course deals with a religious topic, instructors should always exercise care in discussing religion in the classroom.