BYU announces a draft of a policy on academic freedom which states: "Academic freedom must include not only the institution's freedom to claim a religious identity but also the individual's freedom to ask genuine, even difficult questions. . . . Freedom of thought, belief, inquiry, and expression are crucial no less to the sacred than to the secular quest for truth." It also specifies "reasonable limitations" on academic freedom to prevent behavior that "seriously and adversely affects the university mission or The Church." Examples of restricted behavior fall in three categories. The behavior or expression (1) "contradicts fundamental Church doctrines or opposes, rather than merely discusses, official policies of the Church; (2) attacks or derides the Church or its leaders; and (3) violates the Honor Code because the behavior or expression is dishonest, illegal, unchaste, profane, or unduly disrespectful of others." Newspaper reports of the document include interviews with David Knowlton in the sociology department about recent statements and with Tomi- Ann Roberts and Cecilia Konchar Farr, two BYU faculty members who have taken anti-abortion but pro-choice positions. They report being "cautioned" that they are jeopardizing their jobs.
[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1]
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