President’s Advisory Committee on Free Expression and Institutional Speech
President Michael Schill announced the creation of the President’s Advisory Committee on Free Expression and Institutional Speech on Feb. 19, 2024, to propose a statement on free expression that reflects Northwestern’s values. The Committee brought together a panel of preeminent scholars from across disciplines to address three primary issues:
- What are the boundaries, if any, for free expression and academic freedom in teaching, research and public discourse?
- Under what circumstances, if any, should the University, its officers, academic departments or administrative units make statements on behalf of their constituents about political, social or international matters.
- How can the Northwestern community embrace the committee’s recommendations as part of our culture?
The committee read an extensive set of materials and conducted listening sessions with key stakeholder groups, including representatives from Student Affairs, the Associated Student Government, graduate student leadership, the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, and the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, in addition to meeting with the Council of Deans, the Faculty Senate, the leadership of the Block Museum, Provost Kathleen Hagerty, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. They also met together, as a committee of the whole or in committee subgroups, for well over 20 hours of discussion.
The work of the committee came to a close with the submission of a Statement on Free Expression and Institutional Speech to President Schill on Aug. 9, 2024.
view the statement
President Schill shared a preview of the statement with all faculty on Sept. 18, 2024, and encouraged their feedback. On Sept. 27, 2024, President Schill and Provost Hagerty officially endorsed the statement in a message to all faculty, students and staff.
Committee Members
- Erin Delaney (chair), Professor of Law
- Henry Bienen, President Emeritus
- Eli Finkel, Professor of Social Psychology
- Vicky Kalogera, Daniel L. Linzer Distinguished University Professor and Director of CIERA
- Toni-Marie Montgomery, Professor and former Dean, Bienen School of Music
- Gary Saul Morson, Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities
- Milan Mrksich, Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Biomedical Engineering
- Peter Slevin, Professor of Journalism
- Natasha Trethewey, Board of Trustees Professor of English
- Christopher Udry, Robert E. and Emily King Professor in Economics
- Mary Zimmerman, Professor and Jaharis Family Foundation Chair in Performance Studies