But at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, authority is to be revered and obeyed. For the 221 uniformed members of the teaching faculty, that's not a problem. They readily salute their commanders and heed orders.
 
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"I'm sorry to see so many people who don't understand that academics are not about unquestioned obedience," said Bruce Fleming.
He is a tenured English professor whose criticism of academy policies has drawn the attention of his uniformed superiors.
Early this year, for example, he published an essay in a Navy trade magazine criticizing the school's admissions process. Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt, the academy's superintendent, issued him a private rebuke.
And last month, Fleming was not permitted to sign copies of his latest book - which contains essays that question the academy's affirmative action policies - at the campus bookstore, a practice regularly allowed for other faculty.
Public scolding
In another famous
example of a faculty member expressing a personal opinion, a professor
was publicly upbraided for his criticism of the institution.In 1996, just a few days after James Barry wrote a lengthy newspaper opinion piece saying the academy suffered from a "culture of hypocrisy," then-Superintendent Charles R. Larson denounced him in several meetings with the entire faculty, officer staff and brigade of midshipmen.
"He pointed at me and said, 'That man there is a liar and a traitor,'" Barry, a leadership professor and hockey coach at the time, recalled recently. "Those were pretty strong words."
Barry was removed from his classes and assigned to write recommendations for how the academy could improve upon some of the problems he highlighted in his opinion piece.
The incident prompted the intervention of the American Association of University Professors, a Washington-based trade group for academics, which threatened to add the Naval Academy to a list it keeps of schools that don't honor academic freedom principles.
Barry returned to classes the next day but eventually left the academy.
Cmdr. Rod Gibbons, spokesman for the academy, said the institution would not comment on the personal opinions of its employees, but he did note that Fleming has not been disciplined for his public comments.
"The U.S. Naval Academy supports the right of our faculty members to express their personal opinions in a responsible and accurate manner," he said.
William Miller, the civilian academic dean at the academy, said that when teachers come to interview at the academy they are often nervous about how they will fit into the military environment.
To assuage any concerns, the academy has them teach a course as part of their interview.
"They'll get a chance to see what it's like to get great questions from the midshipmen," Miller said. "That's usually very stimulating because they'll find out we have a very small average class size. Our average class size is between 17 and 18 students. ... That's really attractive to someone who thinks of themselves as a teacher. That's what we want here."
