How does it affect your campus? What can you do? A robust, vigorous mix of ideas is the lifeblood of effective higher eductation. But the broad range of student-run associations that contributes to intellectual diversity and freedom of ideas is now in jeopardy at public colleges and universities. A recent, narrowly-worded decision from a closely-divided Supreme Court is prompting hasty policy changes that would limit students’ right of association in political and religious campus groups. This brochure gives trustees a brief summary of the case, links to key documents for further investigation, and guidance for prudent policy decisions.
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, […]
This report features ten best practices, gleaned from colleges and universities across the country, for promoting the free exchange of ideas in and out of the classroom. Since intellectual diversity is at the core of any true university education, the report commends institutions that have taken action, urges them to keep at it, and exhorts […]
Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, generally does not see eye to eye with critics who say college campuses are hotbeds of political correctness and liberal indoctrination. This month, when he debated Peter Wood, executive director of the National Association of Scholars at the NAS annual conference in Washington, over the […]
Most Americans would agree that academic freedom is a sacred right of the academy and crucial to the American experiment in democracy. But what is it really? That’s the question raised by the Associated Press’s July 16 release of emails between Mitch Daniels, when he was the governor of Indiana, and his staff concerning Howard […]
Last week, American University’s faculty asserted the academic freedom that was once a central value of our colleges and universities is now under almost unremitting assault. Departing from the intellectual cowardice of many other institutions, the Faculty Senate simply said “no” to the use of the popular “trigger warnings” ostensibly designed to shield students from […]
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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