IN the last column, we discussed the academic freedom of students which consists of the right to choose or select a course of study, and the right to enroll until graduation. For today's column, we focus on the academic freedom of higher education institutions as guaranteed by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. The framers of our Constitution purposely did not define the extent of academic freedom of institutions recognizing that this term is dynamic and therefore should be left to the judiciary to provide and interpret the scope of such freedom.

The extent of institutional academic freedom that we know is provided in the landmark case of Sweezy v Hampshire, which provides the four freedoms subsumed in the term academic freedom as the freedom to determine on academic grounds — who shall teach, what shall be taught, how it shall be taught and who shall be admitted to study.