Western Michigan University (WMU) joined the ranks of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University and more than 100 other universities in adopting a policy of statement neutrality whereby institutional leaders practice principled restraint of public statements on contentious issues. In an email to the campus community on Thursday, WMU president Edward Montgomery shared the university’s new Guidelines for Stewarding our Institutional Voice.

He notes in his email to the WMU community on the importance of the new guidelines for academic freedom:

Stewardship of free speech and academic freedom requires that the University must be vigilant in considering whether its actions intentionally or unintentionally inhibit free speech and inquiry across our community.

With the new guidelines stating:

As an institution of higher learning, we value intellectual debate, viewpoint diversity and freedom of inquiry. When an institution takes a strong public stance, it can inadvertently discourage open discussion and make individuals feel reluctant to express differing views—or even silence them. The University's goal is to create an environment where all perspectives can be shared and debated freely.

The guidelines, which have been in development since the fall, were strongly influenced by the WMU HxA campus chapter - one of HxA’s largest in North America. The chapter, part of HxA’s first cohort of Campus Communities launched in January 2023, has prioritized campus culture action items to support Heterodox values. Jeffrey S. Breneman, Vice President for Government Relations and External Partnerships at WMU and a co-chair of the WMU Campus Community, said they used the HxA model of statement neutrality as their guide during that process.

“Our large membership of HxA members at WMU identified ways to drive meaningful impact to support open inquiry and viewpoint diversity. The President’s cabinet began studying this issue last summer, “ said Breneman. “The resources developed and published by HxA were helpful as we developed new guidelines for stewardship of our institutional voice. We look forward to fostering a campus environment of robust debate in the future.”

HxA’s policy team also got involved by writing to the WMU president in September 2024 shortly after the working group was established. In the letter, HxA emphasized the benefits to the broader campus community when institutions adopt statement neutrality:

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

The official announcement from the WMU president comes just hours after HxA President John Tomasi visited the campus on February 6th to give a lecture on HxA’s vision for “A University the World Has Never Seen.” Upon returning from WMU Tomasi shared, “It’s wonderful to see the huge, deeply involved community of HxA on campus at Western taking our model policies and putting them into action. They are an exemplar of our members making a deeply positive impact on their campus to promote intellectual freedom.”