On the Protection of the Constitutional Rights of Teachers and Professors

1970 NCTE Annual Business Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

Background The pressures which the teachers who proposed this NCTE resolution cited in framing this statement on constitutional rights within educational institutions included the following: (1) imposition of curriculum changes without consultation; (2) censorship in selection of instructional materials; (3) restricted opportunity to discuss school policies affecting teachers; 4) reprisals against faculty either for "desiring membership in organizations such as unions" or for not desiring it; (5) school-imposed rules on teachers' and professors' lives outside the academic setting—"Dress, pastimes, associations, supplemental employment," participation or nonparticipation in religious, and political activity; and (6) "the repressing of the freedom to teach controversial issues, or to express and explore controversial points of view within the discipline, subject, or topic that is being taught."           Proposers stressed that restrictions on teachers in turn restrict students' freedom to learn. They cited a 1943 Supreme Court decision specifying that in order to educate the young for citizenship, boards of education must "scrupulously" protect the constitutional freedoms of the individual (Supreme Court, 319, U.S. 624, 1943). Be it therefore   Resolution Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English strongly affirm that a teacher or professor shall not be required to surrender his or her constitutional rights [to free expression, fair treatment, and nondiscrimination] as a condition of employment.