Higher Education Law: The Faculty

by Steven G. Poskanzer

Overview

"Do we need to talk to our lawyers about this?"

"What do the attorneys say?"

"Why didn't you get the lawyers involved before now?"

Just about every department chair and dean, certainly every provost and president, and an ever-increasing number of faculty find themselves asking—or being asked—such questions. Dealing with issues ranging from academic freedom to job security and faculty discipline, lawyers, legal requirements, and lawsuits has become an established part of the apparatus of American higher education.

Higher Education Law was written to help faculty and administrators navigate critical legal issues and avoid potential legal pitfalls. Drawing on his experience as university counsel, administrator, and teacher at a number of institutions, Steven G. Poskanzer explains the law as it pertains to faculty activities both inside and outside the academy, including faculty roles as scholars, teachers, and members of institutional communities, as well as employees and public citizens. In each of these areas, he expands his discussion of cases and decisions to set out his own views both on the current status of the law and how it is likely to evolve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801876691
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Steven G. Poskanzer is vice provost of the State University of New York.

Steven G. Poskanzer is vice provost of the State University of New York.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. The Lay of the Land
Chapter 3. Faculty Scholarship
Chapter 4. Faculty in the Classroom
Chapter 5. Faculty as Institutional CItizens
Chapter 6. Faculty as Public Citizens
Chapter 7. Faculty as Employees
Chapter 8. Final Thoughts on Faculty and the Law

What People are Saying About This

J. Douglas Toma

This book succeeds in introducing provosts, deans, and departmental chairs to legal issues having to do with the faculty—and it offers faculty a useful guide for understanding their own rights and responsibilities under the law. Poskanzer explains the relevant concepts in a comprehensive and accessible manner that serves his intended audience well.

— J. Douglas Toma, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

Richard Zansitis

Amidst all of the books and publications relating to the legal issues for colleges and universities, it is amazing that this is the first book to provide deans, department chairs, and general readers with a clear, concise, thoughtful and well-written overview of the legal principles that govern what colleges and universities can and cannot do. Steven Poskanzer's book is long overdue and very, very welcome.

— Richard Zansitis, General Counsel, Rice University

From the Publisher

Amidst all of the books and publications relating to the legal issues for colleges and universities, it is amazing that this is the first book to provide deans, department chairs, and general readers with a clear, concise, thoughtful and well-written overview of the legal principles that govern what colleges and universities can and cannot do. Steven Poskanzer's book is long overdue and very, very welcome.
—Richard Zansitis, General Counsel, Rice University

This book succeeds in introducing provosts, deans, and departmental chairs to legal issues having to do with the faculty—and it offers faculty a useful guide for understanding their own rights and responsibilities under the law. Poskanzer explains the relevant concepts in a comprehensive and accessible manner that serves his intended audience well.
—J. Douglas Toma, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

Editorial Reviews

Higher Education Law: The Faculty . . . describ[es] clearly, for both lawyers and non-lawyers, the central legal principles governing the activities of faculty and the routine academic affairs of colleges and universities. The major sections of the book cover the law relating to faculty as scholars, teachers, institutional citizens, public citizens, and employees. This book achieves the preventive law goals both of assisting faculty and administrators to avoid legal problems and of helping them to understand when they need legal counsel . . . The chapter on scholarship provides an excellent overview of the law regarding both the ownership and exploitation of faculty work, including copyrights and patents and the dissemination of and access to scholarly work. The chapter on faculty as employees includes a lengthy overview of nondiscrimination law that clearly explains a complex and layered area of law. This section should, in particular, be mandatory reading for all graduate students, professors, and administrators.
—Neil W. Hamilton, Academe

Welcome, useful and readable.
—David Palfreyman, Education and the Law

An interesting, informative, and very useful book that works both as a teaching tool and as a guide to understanding the legal land mines that are part and parcel of what we as faculty believe we do.
—Benjamin Baez, Journal of Higher Education

From the Publisher

An interesting, informative, and very useful book that works both as a teaching tool and as a guide to understanding the legal land mines that are part and parcel of what we as faculty believe we do.

Journal of Higher Education - Benjamin Baez

Higher Education Law: The Faculty . . . describ[es] clearly, for both lawyers and non-lawyers, the central legal principles governing the activities of faculty and the routine academic affairs of colleges and universities. The major sections of the book cover the law relating to faculty as scholars, teachers, institutional citizens, public citizens, and employees. This book achieves the preventive law goals both of assisting faculty and administrators to avoid legal problems and of helping them to understand when they need legal counsel . . . The chapter on scholarship provides an excellent overview of the law regarding both the ownership and exploitation of faculty work, including copyrights and patents and the dissemination of and access to scholarly work. The chapter on faculty as employees includes a lengthy overview of nondiscrimination law that clearly explains a complex and layered area of law. This section should, in particular, be mandatory reading for all graduate students, professors, and administrators.

Academe - Neil W. Hamilton

Welcome, useful and readable.

Education and the Law - David Palfreyman

An interesting, informative, and very useful book that works both as a teaching tool and as a guide to understanding the legal land mines that are part and parcel of what we as faculty believe we do.

— Benjamin Baez

Journal of Higher Education

Welcome, useful and readable.

— David Palfreyman

Education and the Law

Higher Education Law: The Faculty... describ[es] clearly, for both lawyers and non-lawyers, the central legal principles governing the activities of faculty and the routine academic affairs of colleges and universities. The major sections of the book cover the law relating to faculty as scholars, teachers, institutional citizens, public citizens, and employees. This book achieves the preventive law goals both of assisting faculty and administrators to avoid legal problems and of helping them to understand when they need legal counsel... The chapter on scholarship provides an excellent overview of the law regarding both the ownership and exploitation of faculty work, including copyrights and patents and the dissemination of and access to scholarly work. The chapter on faculty as employees includes a lengthy overview of nondiscrimination law that clearly explains a complex and layered area of law. This section should, in particular, be mandatory reading for all graduate students, professors, and administrators.

— Neil W. Hamilton

Academe