After seven weeks of committee deliberation, Yale University President Maurie McInnis accepted the Report of the Committee on Institutional Voice to commit Yale to institutional Statement Neutrality.

Heterodox Academy’s policy team has been involved with the pending move toward statement neutrality following the formation of a faculty committee in September to consider institutional statement neutrality for the University by submitting a letter to President McInnis on September 30th.

In the letter, we told university leaders:

Adopting institutional statement neutrality will protect the freedom of inquiry and expression within the academic community by ensuring all members of the Yale community can freely research, teach, and discuss all sides of an issue without fear of ostracization and repercussions from the university itself.

We are happy to see another leading university formally adopt statement neutrality to protect open inquiry and free expression on campus. Following completion of the committee’s report on October 27th, President McInnis informed the Yale community on October 30th:

I have accepted the committee’s report because I believe its recommendations will strengthen Yale’s ability to uphold and defend academic freedom and the academic enterprise. As explained in the report, the committee concluded “if leaders adhere to a presumption against statements, then the choice by leaders not to speak on a given topic need not be understood as a substantive position on that topic. Rather, the decision not to speak can be understood as adhering to the university’s mission of promoting the free exchange of ideas and fostering research and education within the community.” I am committed to upholding a culture of teaching and learning at our university. I will encourage our students to look to Yale as a place where they will learn to speak for themselves, to probe assumptions and ask questions, and to listen with openness when confronted with disagreement.

Yale joins the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and dozens of other universities who have all recently adopted institutional statement neutrality.

Learn more about institutional statement neutrality, our policy model, and the growing list of universities protecting open inquiry on campus on our website.