Chair Talk 3.17

Chair Talk 3.17    Expressing Opinions

Many faculty colleagues have expressed an interest in participating in the upcoming March for Science, and were wondering how they should approach this event, and other interactions in the public sphere, as an employee of the UA.  In order to provide some guidance, I recently talked at length with staff in the Office of the General Counsel at the UA, and several others, to gather the best information I could about what can and cannot be done.  

Faculty may use their title and university affiliation to establish their credentials, but should make clear, if they are speaking on any political issue, or with respect to a candidate for political office, that they are speaking on their own behalf, expressing their own opinions, and are not speaking on behalf of or representing the University of Arizona.  Further, faculty must refrain from using University resources, including email, in connection with any political activity, and should engage in such activities on their own time.

Further, faculty are able to publicly address issues within their areas of expertise in a way that promotes factual understanding, delves into the issues with due regard to various perspectives, and offers evidence-based options.  This is playing what can be called our Expert role, and it is one clearly laid out in the mandate of any land grant institution.

Some specific examples of issues that might arise:

Can I use grant funds, or funds allocated by the UA in whatever form, to attend the March for Science?   The clear answer here is No.

Can I say I am a climate scientist at the UA when endorsing a candidate for some political office?  Can I, as a scientist working with animals, do an interview in my office about the disappearance of data on lab animal welfare statistics that used to be available on USDA web servers?   The answer to both of these is Yes – but again noting that one is expressing one’s own opinion and not that of the UA.

I realize there are many grey areas here, some of which I will address in a separate statement to be distributed via the non-UA google group established for such purposes.  If you are not in that group, and would like to be, send me an email either at my UA address or my gmail address (nadellynn@gmail.com).

For those interested in digging deeper into the specifics, here are the three primary sources that govern political activities by University employees:

ARS 15-1633 (State Statute): http://www.azleg.gov/viewdocument/docName=http://www.azleg.gov/ars/15/01633.htm

ABOR Policy 1-02: https://public.azregents.edu/Policy%20Manual/1-102%20Lobbying.pdf

UHAP 2.10: http://policy.arizona.edu/employmenthuman-resources/political-activity-uhap

Lynn Nadel
Chair of the Faculty
nadel@u.arizona.edu