Polarizing political beliefs are nothing new on campus, but the tactics employed by supporters of the BDS movement create new cause for concern, from the politicization of curricula and academic associations to efforts to silence Israeli speakers to overtly anti-Semitic behavior on campus. In a new essay, ACTA renews its call for the protection of campus free speech and free expression by warning trustees and higher education leaders about the threat to academic freedom from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The report outlines ways to safeguard academic freedom and institutional neutrality and create a campus climate where a wide range of social and political thought is represented in important debates.
This guide for trustees reports on the dangerous decline of academic freedom and intellectual diversity on college campuses. The foreword, by Benno Schmidt, chairman of the CUNY Board of Trustees and former president of Yale, comes at a time when duly-invited graduation speakers are made unwelcome, campus speech codes threaten the free exchange of ideas, […]
University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer delivers remarks upon accepting the 2017 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education. He spoke of how the “openness of universities to divergent and clashing ideas, to analytic debate, to rigor, and to questioning, is a critical ingredient in illuminating societal, scientific, and humanistic issues.” […]
ACTA’s new guide for higher education trustees, Guarding the Freedom to Speak, Freedom to Hear by Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, provides best practices to boards of trustees for securing intellectual freedom on the American college campus. It couldn’t have come a moment too soon. Since 2016 […]
Students and faculty members are usually the most active participants in campus discussions about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. A new report that’s highly critical of the boycott campaign argues that governing boards must also play a role in such discussions and ultimately act as a backstop for academic freedom. While the […]
The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is “one of the greatest threats to academic freedom” in America today, aiming to “undercut the moral legitimacy of the State of Israel” more than harm it economically, according to a new report. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is sharing its report with college and […]
The attacks of Sept. 11 are prompting a new war of words on college campuses between a group critical of a ”blame America first” bias and professors who see academic freedom under assault. With various polls showing most Americans support U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan, some faculty groups are re-emphasizing their right to hold unpopular […]
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