Board of Trustees passes resolution reaffirming institutional neutrality

A resolution reaffirming the University’s commitment to academic freedom, freedom of speech and institutional neutrality passed at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday.

The chair of the board, Ed Weisiger Jr., said the University has a history of embracing freedom of inquiry, speech and thought, citing the University's positive ranking from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. 

“NC State has a green light rating from FIRE, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and one of the highest ratings of all of the UNC institutions,” Weisiger said. “It’s something for us to be proud of, so this is in no way saying that we have an issue. This is really a reaffirmation of what I believe, and I think this board believes, that we're already doing.”

The resolution is distinct from the Chicago Principles, a set of guidelines from the University of Chicago which state how academic institutions can support free speech expression. The resolution is proposed in place of the adoption of the Chicago Principles.

“We socialized it with the Executive Committee who found it to be right, but what we decided to do is to not adopt the Chicago Principles, but to really adopt a resolution that you saw in your materials rather than Chicago Principles,” Weisiger said. “The chancellor has also socialized this with faculty and other stakeholders across campus, so I just want to let you know that this is not something that we are doing in a vacuum at all.”

Weisiger said the resolution is not meant to be a response to recent events at universities across the country, referencing the protests taking place at Columbia University and other institutions.

“Given this moment in history, and the focus on protecting and encouraging a university environment that embraces freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, civil discourse and institutional neutrality on political issues, we believe that it's an appropriate time for the Board of Trustees to affirm this commitment and this framework,” Weisiger said.

Chancellor Randy Woodson said this isn’t intended to change any policies within the University.

“This doesn't address any policy issues because our policies are all consistent with UNC requirements, state law, federal law,” Woodson said. “Our policies are in good shape. This is a reaffirmation that I think is important.”

Weisiger said the adoption of this resolution doesn’t mean demonstrations won’t occur on campus.

“For us to adopt something like this doesn't mean that we won't have disruptions across campus, that we won’t have people that don't respect this on campus,” Weisiger said. “In the Executive Committee, we talked with the chancellor about their role in enforcing this standard, but more importantly making sure that there's a process by which we go through enforcing this and making sure that disruptions don't happen and that we seek to engage people that might be disruptive before we intend to punish them.”

The resolution passed with no further discussion from the board.

The Board of Trustees will meet again on July 18.