Faculty, Rights and Responsibilities of

At the most basic level, faculty responsibilities are separated into three distinct areas of professional activity: (1) teaching, (2) scholarly activity/research, and (3) service. Each of these areas carries with it generally understood rights or privileges that help clarify the meaning and scope of the accompanying work—the two most critical being tenure and academic freedom. Although differences exist between different educational systems, different institutional types within those systems, and between institutions themselves, the general outlines of faculty rights and responsibilities described in this entry are commonly understood to apply to full-time permanent faculty at institutions within the United States. It is important to acknowledge, however, that these traditional tenured positions are becoming increasingly uncommon, in fact comprising only approximately one quarter of the academic staffing ...