UNL Policy on Free Speech and Academic Freedom

 

July 21, 2021

To the Faculty, Staff and Students of the University of Nebraska:

Recently there has been a great deal of conversation across our campuses about academic freedom and its importance to our university. Today we issue the following unified statement in defense of freedom of expression for all members of the University of Nebraska community:

The free and open pursuit of ideas is a cherished principle in higher education, and its preservation is vital for any great university. As our policies and practices make clear, the University of Nebraska is strongly committed to academic freedom. We support and defend the liberties our teachers and learners have to freely discuss ideas in and outside of the classroom.

Our central mission is to educate Nebraska’s future leaders, and in preparing students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens, our instructors expose them to any number of concepts and ideas. Issues around race, equity and the fight against racism are an important part of our country’s story and they have an appropriate place in our classrooms. Our policies guard against the introduction of matters that are irrelevant to the subject at hand. We further expect and believe that in discussing ideas, our instructors make their classrooms places of robust and open debate, where all viewpoints are considered and all may express their opinions freely. That commitment to free expression is at the heart of our work as an institution of higher learning.

 

Ted Carter
President, University of Nebraska System

Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Ronnie D. Green, Ph.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Doug Kristensen, J.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Joanne Li, Ph.D., C.F.A.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Omaha