Free Speech Committee Formed By Northwestern University President

EVANSTON, IL — Amid controversy over Northwestern University officials' response to the Israel-Hamas war, the university's president this week announced the appointment of a new advisory committee he has tasked with coming up with a statement expressing the private school's position on free speech and academic freedom.

University President Michael Schill said he hosted a "vigorous panel" on free speech in a diverse community after he was picked as university president in August 2022.

"In the months since, worldwide events have sometimes strained our abilities to respectfully debate issues that we hold dear," Schill said in a message to the university community, "but also have again laid bare why the concepts of academic freedom and freedom of expression are so important not just to the mission of our great University, but to solving the world’s problems."

The President's Advisory Committee on Free Expression and Institutional Speech is composed of 11 people (see below) from a wide variety of academic disciplines.

Schill said he has asked the committee to figure out what are the boundaries for academic freedom and free speech in teaching, research and public discourse.

"I have also asked Committee members to evaluate 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," Schill said.

In addition to tasking the new committee with drafting a statement on Northwestern's free speech values, Schill said he has asked it to "examine what are the boundaries, if any, for free expression and academic freedom in teaching, research and public discourse," to consider when university officials or departments to make statements about "political, social or international matters."

The question of whether and when Northwestern should make official statements about the news of the day was pushed into the spotlight since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 that ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

On Oct. 12, Schill published a letter in response to queries regarding whether he or the university, as an institution, would issue a statement regarding the conflict in Israel and Gaza.

The university president expressed horror at the Hamas attacks, while acknowledging that students and staff have their own voices and the university cannot speak on their behalf.

Schill said he did not expect to be issuing statements on social or political matters that do not "directly impact the core mission" of Northwestern.

In November, the university president announced the formation of an advisory committee on preventing antisemitism and hate.

"A strong commitment to fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate, such as those targeting students, faculty or staff of Muslim or Arab heritage, is consistent with our value of protecting free expression," Schill said at the time.

The university president said some remarks may not violate official policy but are still unwelcome in a university community based on respect and dialogue. Just because students or faculty have the right to say something, he said, does not mean they should.

"I call on all members of our community to use our collective voices to emphatically reject statements or banners that significant parts of our community interpret as promoting murder and genocide," Schill said. "This includes flying flags associated with Hamas and banners with the slogan 'From the River to the Sea.'"

In December, pro-Israel nonprofit Alums for Campus Fairness launched an ad campaign blaming the university for failing to protect Jewish students and asserting that student and faculty groups "resoundingly support" terrorism. University representatives described the claims as "outlandish" and "not based on facts."

In a follow-up message last month, Schill said membership of his hate-prevention advisory committee had been finalized and its work had begun. The pro-Israel nonprofit responded with criticism of his appointment of an anthropologist who has advocated for the boycott of Israel.

Northwestern is also among multiple universities under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education after a complaint was filed last month over alleged discrimination against Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Ac.

Schill's new free expression advisory committee will be chaired by law professor Erin Delaney.

It will also include former University President Henry Bienen, social psychology professor Eli Finkel, astrophysicist Vicky Kalogera, music professor Toni-Marie Montgomery, humanities professor Gary Saul Morson, biomedical engineering professor Milan Mrksich, journalism professor Peter Slevin, English professor Natasha Trethewey, economics professor Christopher Udry and performance studies professor Mary Zimmerman.

"The panel consists of some of Northwestern’s preeminent scholars from across disciplines," Schill said, "scholars who will examine the issue from different perspectives and, hopefully, with different viewpoints — the type of intellectual debate that lies at the very core of academic freedom."

In 2014, the University of Chicago adopted principals on free expression on campus, which have subsequently been adopted by more than 100 colleges and universities.

The so-called Chicago Statement declared it was improper for the university to shield people from unwelcome or offensive ideas and concerns about civility should never be used to close off discussion.

"In a word," it said, "the University’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed."

Related:

• Prosecutors Drop Charges Over Fake Front Pages On School Newspaper Filed By Northwestern
• Northwestern University Antisemitism Complaint Triggers Federal Title VI Investigation
• Judge Blocks Pat Fitzgerald Request To Move Up Northwestern Trial Date
• Northwestern Athletics 'In Crisis' Over Hazing, Professors Seek Answers