Yesterday, ACTA sent a letter to all members of the Board of Trustees at the University of Pennsylvania imploring them to revisit the University’s implementation of its own academic freedom policies at their upcoming board meeting.
Despite the University of Pennsylvania’s “Guidelines on Open Expression,” in which Penn declares a strong commitment to academic freedom, Amy Wax, a distinguished professor of law, was banned from teaching key, required law courses last year for exercising speech that was contrary to dominant views.
ACTA hopes that the board will revisit this incident and draft a plan for protecting free speech going forward. Academic freedom is a pillar of the academy, and essential for social and scientific progress. It is of the utmost importance that institutions of the University of Pennsylvania’s stature and reputation set an example for others to follow.
To see the full letter, click HERE.
After a tumultuous year for free speech on campus, Higher Ed Now asks Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to share his impression on campus speech controversies. From protests to microaggressions, he describes the campus culture that fosters censorship and threatens academic freedom and civil liberties for students and faculty.
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, […]
In April 2018, Paul S. Levy resigned as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and as an overseer of its law school, to protest the University’s treatment of law professor Amy Wax. Despite his long-standing close ties to the institution as a board member, alumnus, and major donor, he took a resolute stand in […]
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