The American Council of Trustees and Alumni today praised Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the state’s legislature for sending a message to the state’s public universities: Campuses should foster free speech, not restrict it. House Bill 258, signed by the governor this week, prohibits public colleges “from imposing restrictions on time, place, and manner of student speech that occurs in the outdoor areas of the institution’s campus.”
ACTA believes the university should be a place where diverse views can be expressed freely. In a letter last year to Virginia’s Boards of Visitors and more than 15,000 other trustees around the country, ACTA called on trustees to eliminate speech codes and to be proactive in their protection of intellectual diversity on campuses.
“If Virginia higher education wants to foster a vibrant intellectual climate, it must unfailingly encourage free speech in its fullest form,” said ACTA president Anne D. Neal. “University governing boards should now follow the governor and legislature and step up to the plate to assess the state of free speech on campus and take all steps necessary to expand the free exchange of ideas and principled protection of intellectual freedom.”
“The very essence of higher education should be a robust atmosphere of unfettered debate and discussion—both inside and outside the classroom,” said Dr. Michael Poliakoff, ACTA vice president of policy. “Speech codes are an affront to academic freedom and create a chilling environment where students can be punished for stances that may differ from those of their classmates or professors.”
Today, “free speech zones”—or designated areas where students are allowed to express themselves—exist at colleges across the country as a shameful substitute for a free exchange of ideas. ACTA’s report “Free to Teach, Free to Learn” further examines academic freedom in higher education and outlines steps trustees must take to ensure the First Amendment freedoms necessary for a rich liberal education.
A recent report by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) recently found that the University of Pittsburgh has failed to protect free speech on its campus, with most students being afraid to speak up in support of their beliefs.
ACTA’s Hero of Intellectual Freedom award was presented to Roland G. Fryer, Jr., professor of economics at Harvard University.
Censorship is ugly behavior, whether it comes from the right or the left. Fortunately, it is most often self-defeating, but it is a warning sign of deeper pathology. So we see in the matter of philosopher, filmmaker, and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new book, Israel Alone.
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