Section 4 - Faculty Personnel Policies and Procedures

III. Faculty Ethics

Faculty members recognize their ethical responsibility to their subjects, their students, their professional colleagues, St. Olaf College, and the wider community. Guided by a deep conviction of the worth and dignity of their service to the advancement of knowledge, they recognize the special responsibilities placed upon them. They accept the obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in gathering information, in using it, and in transmitting it. Their ethical responsibilities are exercised within a college community in which relationships must be based upon mutual trust and consideration for all members within that community.

A venerable tradition supports the idea of a statement in which a profession defines its highest ideals of conduct. This statement testifies to the academic profession's insistence on essential self-government and its acceptance or the responsibilities which accompany this right.

1. The responsibility of faculty members to their subjects is to seek and to state the truth in those subjects as they see it. To this end, they devote their energies to developing and improving their scholarly competence. They practice intellectual honesty. They avoid conflicts of interest that may restrict their freedom of inquiry and teaching.
   
2. The responsibility of faculty members to their students is to teach according to the best scholarly standards of their disciplines. By rigorous self-scrutiny, by fairness and courtesy, and by attention to the details of their professional conduct, they strive for a deportment that will invite respect for themselves and for their profession. In their teaching, they maintain an atmosphere of free and unhampered inquiry, and they encourage independence and originality of thought. They avoid any exploitation of students for their private advantage and acknowledge significant assistance from them. They protect students' academic freedom.
   
3. The obligations of faculty members to their professional colleagues derive from common membership in the community of scholars. They seek to be magnanimous in their diverse relations with colleagues. In the exchange of criticism and ideas, they show respect for the opinions of others. They acknowledge their academic debts; their professional judgments of colleagues are impartial; they accept their share of faculty responsibilities for the governance of their institution; and they support the academic freedom of their colleagues.
   
4. The chief obligation of faculty members to their own institution is to be effective teachers and scholars. They observe the stated rules and regulations of the institution, yet guard vigorously their right of criticism. When they speak or act as a private person, they avoid creating the impression that they speak or act for the College. They determine the amount and character of the work they do outside the College with due regard to their paramount responsibilities within the institution. When considering the interruption or termination of their service, they weigh the effect of their decision upon the program of the College.
   
5. The obligations to the community of faculty members, like their rights within the community, cannot be less than those of any citizen. By virtue of their special knowledge and their position as educators, their obligations may be more. They measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subjects, to their students, and to their institution. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends upon freedom for its health and integrity, professors have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further, in the civil community, the understanding of academic freedom.
   
6. Romantic or sexual relationships between members of the St. Olaf Community can be of concern because of the potential for conflicts of interest and/or the abuse of power. Faculty should review the College's "Consensual Relations Policy" in the Faculty Handbook for information regarding prohibitions and expectations relating to such relationships.

These statements are declarations which not only express the ideals of the profession of teaching generally, but are also in accord with the aims and objectives of St. Olaf College as an institution of the Christian Church.