Commentary: UVa’s new president must improve campus freedom

As the University of Virginia (UVa) begins its search for a new president, it is imperative that the university require applicants to demonstrate their commitment to improving freedom of expression and diversity of thought on campus.

Change in this area is urgently needed. In 2022, Emma Camp, then a senior at UVa, described a campus culture of fear that led her and other students to self-censor — and even lie — to stay on the right side of peers and professors. While our organization, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), has documented policy improvements at UVa in the areas of free expression and institutional neutrality over the last few years, our new survey shows that UVa still struggles with the problems Emma described.

Too many UVa students still feel the need to keep their heads down. Our survey found that just 12% of students say the university is very welcoming of those who hold unpopular political beliefs. It is not surprising then that 74% of students have felt the need to self-censor. These students are worried about reactions from professors, but they are even more concerned about what their fellow students will think.

Students also report that many otherwise mainstream viewpoints are hard to find on campus. For example, 55% of students say course readings, assignments, and discussions often include liberal or progressive perspectives, but only 17% say their courses often introduce conservative perspectives. There is more to intellectual diversity than liberalism and conservatism, of course, but this specific example almost certainly represents a broader rather than an isolated lack of diversity of thought on campus.

With these issues in mind, candidates for one of America’s most prestigious university presidencies should be required to outline their commitments to free expression and intellectual diversity in their application materials. The search committee should discuss these issues in detail during all interviews.

Once a president truly committed to these values is hired, he or she must take action. A top priority should be cultivating more intellectual diversity among the faculty. In fact, our survey found that 84% of students believe the university should do so. A first step is to require all faculty job advertisements to pair the university’s nondiscrimination statement with a statement on the university’s commitment to diversity of thought. This will indicate clearly to job applicants, students, lawmakers, and the general public that UVa does not encourage or desire an intellectual or political monoculture.

Further, the new president should require academic programs to include promoting diversity of thought and free expression in their annual assessment efforts. Such a requirement lets faculty know that the president’s commitment to these values is more than rhetorical. It also gives programs reasonable flexibility to define intellectual diversity within their fields of expertise and can provide data on what knowledge gaps exist and need to be filled.

To bolster free expression on campus, the new president must also facilitate the development of free speech and civil discourse education throughout the curriculum. While free speech training during student orientation, which UVa currently provides, is essential, these principles must be reinforced in the classroom. Additionally, staff who work with students should receive mandatory training in free speech policies as they relate to their administrative areas. Finally, the new president should require the university to conduct regular and rigorous institutional research on its climate for free expression and intellectual diversity.

Ms. Camp has already graduated from UVa, but many students like her are still there and will follow. At a minimum, their college experience should encourage them to share their thoughts, learn from others, and engage with different ideas. The search committee must select a leader who will take meaningful action to promote diversity of thought and free expression. Emphasizing such criteria will signal to lawmakers, citizens, and, above all, students, that UVa truly wants to be what it claims to be: a “learning environment marked by the free and collegial exchange of ideas.”

This piece was originally published by Richmond Times-Dispatch on October 5, 2025.