Value and Protection of Academic Freedom in Higher Learning

The Contra Costa Community College District values academic freedom, the freedom of faculty and students to pursue knowledge without constraint and to explore the life of the mind and express observations in an open, responsible, and respectful academic environment. Only in such a free environment can imagination thrive and intellectual skills develop.

Institutions of higher learning exist to seek the truth and to serve the common good. Academic freedom must be guarded as a basic right of all people in a free society. The freedom to think, to read, to speak, and to question is necessary for the development of an informed society.