Hmm: >“You acted contrary to department policy when you did not use the single assigned textbook for MATH 250B sections,” the school reprimand states. Univers

Hmm: >“You acted contrary to department policy when you did not use the single assigned textbook for MATH 250B sections,” the school reprimand states. Universities may be large institutions that require many decisions to be put on autopilot with official policies, but this issue seems like a clear example of something that is not unimportant enough to be handled with use of "policy" as a magic word. As colleagues that hopefully possess some intellectual sophistication, they should at a minimum explain their interpretation of the relevant policies and why their impact is positive, or alternately explain why the policy is worth preserving in the face of producing a worse outcome in this specific instance. Considering that according to the article, the past two governors of the state for the entire university system have pushed toward a greater attention to textbook prices, it seems even less likely that a department can get away with undermining the ethical standards of the American Association of University Professors by using the word "policy" like some talisman.