Self-Regulation Of Faculty In Higher Education

Abstract

Many of the disciplines in which faculty in institutions of higher education are trained, such as law, accounting or medicine, are characterized by a code of ethics and by the regulation of those guiding principles by the profession. Universally, however, academia, is neither guided by a single code of ethics, nor self-regulated by such a code. The tenure system, while compatible with progressive counseling, is less compatible with progressive discipline because of its limited exceptions for terminating tenure and few options for otherwise correcting problematic behavior. As state legislators seek to implement a system of performance checks through post-tenure review, faculty as a whole should consider implementing a code of ethics, coupled with a system of self-regulation for compliance. This paper will discuss these issues and propose that since all faculty members, not just faculty who are administrators, are potentially affected by the sub-standard performance of a colleague, the collective body of faculty should establish and maintain a disciplinary board for regulating professionalism in institutions of higher education.