76-100 ACADEMIC FREEDOM (POLICY) 1. The academic community is committed to education that looks beyond the narrow confines of the present. Education must initiate the challenge to old and new ideas. It must seek to develop the habit of free inquiry and investigation. 2. Academic freedom is the absence of restrictions placed upon the spirit of investigation, free inquiry and open discussion. In this spirit, the instructor exercises a professional judgment to select and interpret ideas, and the student has the right to challenge ideas and interpretations.