Academic Staff Need Academic Freedom, Too (opinion)

"Late last spring, something disturbing happened in my classroom. For the first time in 15 years of teaching, I opened by telling my students I wasn't sure if I was allowed to speak. The class was an introduction to the philosophy of education, and months earlier I'd scheduled this day for our opening discussion on critical pedagogy. But in light of charged campus climates and broader legal threats facing institutions nationwide, I realized that as an academic staff member who engages in teaching and research, I was particularly vulnerable."

"What followed was one of the more important classes I've taught, though not about the subject I'd planned. We spent the hour investigating our institution's academic freedom policies, asking questions of whom those policies included and excluded. We discovered the troubling reality: Although I was expected to facilitate complex educational discussions, I lacked clear protections to do so safely. My situation reflects a growing crisis in higher education that has received little attention. While much has been written about the vulnerabilities of contingent faculty, there has been almost no discussion of the academic freedom needs of one of higher education's most rapidly growing workforces: third-space professionals."

"Over the past two decades, universities have dramatically expanded what researcher Celia Whitchurch terms " third-space " professionals: staff who blend academic and administrative functions but operate in the ambiguous territory between traditional faculty and staff roles. These roles aren't new or unprecedented. The American Association of University Professors has long recognized that librarians, despite often holding staff status, require academic freedom protections given their integral role in teaching and research. What's new is the scale and diversity of academic work now performed by nonfaculty academic professionals."

An instructor experienced uncertainty about speaking in class due to charged campus climates and legal threats, revealing personal vulnerability despite teaching responsibilities. Institutional academic freedom policies often exclude or ambiguously cover nonfaculty academic professionals. Universities have rapidly expanded roles blending academic and administrative functions, creating a growing workforce operating between traditional faculty and staff boundaries. Librarians have precedent for academic freedom protections, but the current scale and diversity of nonfaculty academic work outpace existing protections. The gap in protections produces risks for pedagogical practice and research, signaling a broader crisis requiring attention to policy and inclusion.

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