How can I convince my department that I have the academic freedom to select textbooks and use multiple-choice tests in my courses? I am a professor of Mathematics at a Community College.  My department has adopted policies through a majority vote.  The two policies I have questions about are:


An instructor can only use textbooks that have been preapproved by the department.  Preapproval requires a majority vote from the department.
An instructor may not use multiple-choice tests for assessments in class.  


I believe both policies have negatively affected my students.  

For example, the majority of the instructors in my department want a single textbook to save the students money. However, I believe the textbook used is antiquated.  The technology used with the book is subpar and no animations which I believe are a vital component to a calculus course.  It seems ridiculous that 51% of the department vote can stifle innovation, especially considering once a teacher uses a book for awhile they are less likely to want to change as it requires more work.  It seems like an endless cycle.  If I am forced to use their textbook for half my career than I probably wouldn't want to switch in the latter half and would force newbies to use my antiquated textbook... and the cycle continues. In addition, at some point, OER textbooks will be all we can use if the majority of my department prioritizes cost over quality. 

In regards to multiple-choice exams, I find that my students can be served better by assessing their ability to expressing answers in different forms.  Surprisingly they often don't know how to do this as free-response doesn't require this. Below is a basic example of how I could use multiple choice to aid in students learning:


1/2+1/3 is equivalent to 

a.  3/4

b.  4/6

c.  20/24  


Students are usually taught to get 5/6, but often don't realize that 20/24 is equivalent because they are simply following a process and not understanding their answer has equivalent forms.  I believe using multiple-choice in these scenarios is worthwhile sometimes.  

It is my understanding that as a tenured instructor, I am able to teach the class in the pedagogical manner I believe is best for my class.  Wouldn't this include what textbook I use and the types of assessments I use?

Maybe I am wrong.  However, if I am correct, what sources can I site to my department to sway their understanding?  I want to makes sure I do not forward bad information.  Thank you.
As a current undergraduate student who recently attended a Community College I personally agree with at least requiring all professors to use the same textbook. It means that students from different sections are able to study together more easily than if the books and overall approach to course are different as I'm seeing in some courses at my current University. At least some Community Colleges allow you to change courses up to at least one week into the course with no extra fees, which means that if you find a professor doesn't suit your learning style you can change to another professor, but if you need to buy another text book that would become significantly more difficult for those students. This is especially important in a multi-course series like Calculus where its possible that you could purchase the textbook for the entire series for a fraction of the cost of purchasing the book for each course individually.

I know I'm probably in the minority regarding Ebooks as a large number of my fellow students in the time I spent at a Community College preferred them, but I always preferred a physical book as most Ebooks come with a subscription of some kind which requires renewal every semester for a significant portion of the cost of the book.

And as a final point regarding selection of teaching material, it seems that your department only requires you to use the textbook they decide is best and you are able to supplement your teaching materials with animations and MatLab objects as you see fit. This was a very successful scheme for my Calculus 3 professor as they were able to quickly show us what the concepts looked like as 3D objects in a way they would have been unable to on a blackboard.