PSU Vanguard
by Dylan Jefferies
March 9, 2021
Academic freedom: What is it? What does it protect? And where is the line between free speech and abuse?
These are some of the questions the Portland State Faculty Senate set out to answer in a resolution passed unanimously on March 1.
“Academic freedom is to the university what the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly are to democracy,” the resolution reads. “As with the abuse of democratic rights, carelessness in the exercise of academic freedom can undermine, stifle, and annihilate academic freedom itself.”
“As Faculty, we must be thoughtful in our exercise of academic freedom and guard against its cynical abuse that can take the form of bullying and intimidation,” the resolution continues. “This kind of abuse of academic freedom destroys academic freedom by eroding the trust that makes possible open dialogue, which is a central tenet in university intellectual life as well as in the practice of participatory democracy more broadly.”
In a letter to the campus community, President Stephen Percy and Provost Susan Jeffords provided their support for the resolution.
“As a community, we have a responsibility to one another to keep our campus environment—virtual and in-person—free from harassment and intimidation,” they wrote. “Our values as an institution include creating a safe space for a variety of perspectives and debate of intellectual ideas, advancing racial justice, supporting student success and fulfilling our role as a civic leader and partner within our community. While there are sometimes points of tension among these goals we do not view them as mutually exclusive or competing. These values underpin everything we do at [PSU].”
Read the full article at PSU Vanguard.
Interested in our full statement regarding Faculty Senate's resolution?? Read it HERE.