The Academic Freedom Alliance, Heterodox Academy, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression are nonpartisan organizations dedicated to defending and advancing freedom of speech and open inquiry in higher education.

In February 2024, we issued an open letter to college and university trustees and regents, urging them to adopt institutional neutrality policies on political and social issues that do not concern core academic matters or institutional operations. We asked universities to make this commitment by Sept. 1 so it is in place when the new academic year begins.

In response to the events on October 7, campuses saw protests, tent encampments, and speaker shoutdowns at colleges and universities across the country. Many institutions responded to this tumult by releasing messages expressing solidarity with one cause or another. But this didn’t — and doesn’t — work.

University leaders learned the importance of institutional neutrality firsthand this year: Taking official political positions pleases few and alienates many while establishing campus orthodoxies. In doing so, it threatens the pursuit of knowledge for which higher education exists.

Some universities, no doubt chastened by experience, have done what we urged them to do and adopted the principle of institutional neutrality on disputed political issues. These include prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Syracuse, and Purdue.

By committing to the principles of institutional neutrality, these universities signal their dedication to debate, diversity of opinion, and the pursuit of knowledge. They also protect themselves from accusations of political bias and disincentivize outside forces from pressuring them to take sides on complex political problems on behalf of the entire campus community. These schools are choosing, as the University of Chicago’s 1967 “Kalven Report” states, to act as the “home and sponsor of critics” rather than the critic itself and building an arena for students and faculty to debate the issues of the day.

We encourage colleges and universities that have yet to make this commitment to consider doing so now, before students return to campus in the fall.

Please note that by “institutional neutrality” we mean something specific — not neutrality about the university's commitment to defending its mission and its values of free inquiry. We mean the university should remain neutral on contested political and moral issues of the day, precisely in order to make space for scholars and students to weigh in on those issues as individuals.

Navigating today's polarized climate requires a steadfast commitment to institutional neutrality of the sort described in the Kalven Report. It is urgent for university leaders to seize this opportunity to uphold academic freedom and preserve the university as a bastion of open inquiry.

We stand ready to support universities in their pursuit of institutional neutrality and assist those that have pledged to stay true to their principles.