Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania have adopted institutional-neutrality policies in support of academic freedom and will no longer issue statements on events or controversies unless there is a direct bearing on the university’s functions.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania’s interim president J. Larry Jameson announced two new institutional positions, a statement titled “University Values” and another titled “Upholding Academic Independence.” Jameson noted that, with increasing frequency, leaders at the University of Pennsylvania have issued public statements about external events that largely “sought to provide acknowledgement and solidarity following often horrific circumstances.”
“Although well-meaning, these institutional messages fundamentally compete with the free and unencumbered creation and expression of ideas by individuals,” reads the interim president’s campus announcement. “Going forward, the University of Pennsylvania and its leaders will refrain from institutional statements made in response to local and world events. By quieting Penn’s institutional voice, we hope to amplify the expertise and voices within.”
Penn has repeatedly weighed in on prominent public events in recent years, condemning the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and celebrating the jury conviction of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, in April 2021.
The decision to move toward neutrality comes after the Ivy League school was embroiled in campus protest throughout the previous academic year. Campus police dismantled a 16-day pro-Palestinian encampment toward the end of the spring semester, and former president Liz Magill stepped down following her widely criticized testimony at a House hearing on campus antisemitism in December.
Stanford University’s faculty senate adopted an institutional-neutrality policy in May, which the university’s Board of Trustees commended this week.
“When speaking for the institution, Stanford University leaders and administrators should not express an opinion on political and social controversies, unless these matters directly affect the mission of the university or implicate its legal obligations,” reads a portion of the “Institutional Statements Policy” adopted by the Stanford faculty senate in May. The policy applies to “Academic Organization Executive Officers of the University,” which includes leadership, vice provosts, deans, and others, but not to the directors of centers or institutes within the university.
In formally adopting a policy of institutional neutrality, the universities are following the recommendations laid out by University of Chicago faculty in their 1967 “Kalven Report,” produced amid nationwide protests against the Vietnam War.
“The neutrality of the university as an institution arises then not from a lack of courage nor out of indifference and insensitivity,” reads the University of Chicago’s Kalven Report. “It arises out of respect for free inquiry and the obligation to cherish a diversity of viewpoints. And this neutrality as an institution has its complement in the fullest freedom for its faculty and students as individuals to participate in political action and social protest.”
The Kalven Report does provide exceptions for institutional neutrality, and states that the university has an “obligation” to “defend its interests and its values” and must further oppose measures that “threaten the very mission of the university and its values of free inquiry.” The Kalven Report also notes exceptions when the university may act as a corporate entity, such as in issues related to property ownership, receipt of funds, awarding honors, and membership in external organizations.