A Framework for Campus Free Speech
The Institute for Humane Studies’ (IHS) Open Inquiry Project offers A Framework for Campus Free Speech, a booklet outlining policies that colleges and universities can adopt to secure and preserve open enquiry and freedom of speech. It aims to assist leaders in proactively preparing their campuses to address issues and controversies related to freedom of speech and thought. It is intended to encourage and equip deans, provosts, presidents, and other academic administrators to exercise leadership on issues pertaining to free speech and open inquiry on their campuses.
In particular, the Framework for Campus Free Speech is offered as an inducement for academic leaders to initiate conversations on their campuses that help build support for the principles, policies, and practices necessary to a vibrant intellectual community—a community that protects the free speech rights of all, while retaining the trust and mutual respect necessary to sustain a culture of open inquiry.
The efforts of IHS to address issues of free speech are of special interest to the Jack Miller Center, which this year made freedom of speech its Constitution Day theme. As part of the effort to bring attention to this theme and its place in the Constitution, JMC has launched an online resource center that explores the history, law, and theory of free speech and includes an extensive entry on Freedom of Speech on Campus. All of the Constitution Day events sponsored by the JMC this year involved freedom speech, and several addressed issues of speech on campus.
If you find the state of discourse on campus troubling, consider giving to the Jack Miller Center and supporting its mission to educate our citizens about the principles of American constitutional government.
>>Support the Jack Miller Center.
The Open Inquiry Project was conceived by IHS in response to its recognition that free dialogue, which is necessary for a liberal society, is in danger in colleges and universities. The Open Inquiry Project is a community of faculty committed to the flourishing of free speech and independent thought on college campuses nationwide.
Advancing freedom through the protection of these principles is an essential component of how institutions of higher education create engaged citizens, critical thinkers, and skilled communicators. Supporters of the Open Inquiry Project believe that college campuses should be home to diverse ideas and that unpopular or minority perspectives have a right to be heard and explored with respect and academic rigor.
>>Learn more about the Open Inquiry Project here.
The Institute for Humane Studies is the leading institute in higher education dedicated to championing classical liberal ideas and the scholars who advance them. IHS provides career resources, campus events, seminars and conferences, and funding for efforts to spread ideas of classical liberalism.
>>Learn more about the Institute for Humane Studies here.