Free Speech & Peace

Statement on Campus Free Speech

March 21, 2019
Statement on Campus Free Speech

The White House released an executive order regarding free speech on college and university campuses today. In related document published this morning, the President suggests the urge to silence differing views is a characteristic unique to one ideology. Stand Together Trust issued the following statement:

“For continued progress to be possible, we must have a vanguard to defend speech that’s above partisanship,” says Sarah Ruger, Director of Free Expression at Stand Together Trust. “We are concerned that wrongly framing censorship as an ideological issue works against efforts to foster open intellectual environments on campus.”

Ruger continues, “The best policies are those that empower the academy to uphold its core ideals of academic independence and free inquiry. They encourage what we continue to see as the untold campus free speech story—a growing number of students and faculty rolling up their sleeves and collaborating to break cultural barriers to learning or sharing diverse perspectives. We appreciate when leaders lend attention to this critical issue. In fact, in several states’ policymakers and universities have been able to find common ground on policies that guard against the overreach of previous proposals.”