This academic year, Stanford Law School Professor Bernadette “Bernie” Meyler will serve as a special advisor to the provost helping clarify, further develop, and implement policies connected with the Faculty Senate’s recently approved Statement on Freedom of Expression at Stanford and its new Institutional Statements Policy.

Meyler, who chaired the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on University Speech last year and was instrumental in drafting the two documents, is the Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law and associate dean for research and intellectual life at the Law School.

“I’m grateful to Bernie Meyler for taking on this important role. As chair of the Faculty Senate’s committee last year, she had the opportunity to talk to many members of our community and hear their concerns about freedom of expression on campus. As she engages further with stakeholders this year to revise and clarify our policies for the long-term, this background will be extremely helpful,” Provost Jenny Martinez said. “Our mission of research and education depends on the free exchange of ideas. I’d like to see Stanford be a leader in having policies that provide strong protection for freedom of expression and promote a robust culture of openness, curiosity, and meaningful engagement.” 

The Freedom of Expression statement, approved in May of this year, reaffirmed the university’s values with respect to free speech and highlighted that Stanford will not discriminate against community members’ expression based on viewpoint. It also clarified that, given the university’s educational mission and different functions around campus, certain spaces, such as classrooms and dorms, may have different guidelines.

Before classes start in late September, the university will be sharing a new website with students to highlight and clarify policies in place for this fall. In the coming months, Meyler’s work will focus on ensuring that guidelines and enforcement across campus are clear and consistent while also respecting the differences in various spaces.

She will also work on clarifying the scope of academic freedom as defined in Stanford’s 1974 Statement on Academic Freedom. The statement applies to teaching staff “in a manner appropriate to their roles and responsibilities,” and part of Meyler’s work will focus on elaborating what roles and responsibilities entail what kinds of protection.

“I am eager to continue working on reconciling some of the freedom of expression policies that currently exist across campus,” Meyler said. “And I’m particularly excited about clarifying existing policies in light of the new Faculty Senate measures. My work will be about ensuring that our community’s voices are heard and that we are working to address the issues that matter most.”

Meyler will partner with individuals and groups on campus who are considering what it takes to create a robust community of discourse through campus activities and policies. And she’s hopeful the work being done can serve as a model for others.

“I’m looking forward to using Stanford as a model for other universities, especially in terms of protecting expression and developing protocols that ensure all community members are heard, while sustaining our rich educational environment,” she said. 

Meyler added that as universities nationwide continue to face challenges, she is eager to reaffirm the importance of academic freedom. 

“I think it’s obvious that we are in an incredibly polarized moment and sometimes that can lead to suppressing discussion of various controversial subjects for the sake of getting along,” Meyler said. “But that does not support a rich, deliberative community, whether at a university or more broadly. Especially in an educational environment, it’s so important to be able to engage with critiques of one’s own perspective.”

In addition to furthering work derived from the two Faculty Senate documents, Meyler will also support ongoing developments in the Title VI processes and the implementation of protections against doxxing, informed in part by work from Stanford law Assistant Professor Evelyn Douek’s policy lab.

When asked what advice she’d give to someone interested in learning from others with opposing views, Meyler shared an anecdote from her graduate student teaching days when she’d have undergraduates write papers based on a view opposite of one they might hold.

“Sometimes it’s just seeking out someone you know who has a very different perspective and going for coffee with them, to just have a conversation where you listen to their viewpoint and then figure out how you might respond,” she said. “And maybe you’ll end up with the same stance you had before, but you’ll be exposed to the multiple sides of a question, which helps develop a more refined and well-considered position.”