The Stanford Board of Trustees has approved a resolution reaffirming the university’s commitment to free inquiry, the avoidance of institutional orthodoxy, and the open exchange of ideas. The timing coincides with the 50th anniversary of the 1974 board adoption of Stanford’s Statement on Academic Freedom.

The resolution commends the Faculty Senate for adopting in May of this year a Statement of Freedom of Expression and an Institutional Statements Policy, both of which complement and strengthen Stanford’s long-standing principles of academic freedom.

“Stanford remains steadfast in its dedication to academic freedom, which serves as a key foundation for the university’s truth-seeking scholarship and impactful research,” said board Chair Jerry Yang. “We are immensely grateful for the Faculty Senate’s deliberations earlier this year on this critically important issue, which benefits our entire university community and beyond.”

50 years ago

Stanford’s Statement on Academic Freedom was adopted by the Faculty Senate in 1974 after extensive deliberation with several faculty committees. The unanimously approved statement includes a preamble recognizing that Stanford’s “central functions of teaching, learning, research, and scholarship depend upon an atmosphere in which freedom of inquiry, thought, expression, publication, and peaceable assembly are given the fullest protection.”

Further, “expression of the widest range of viewpoints should be encouraged, free from institutional orthodoxy and from internal or external coercion,” the preamble reads.

Former law school dean Professor Emeritus Paul Brest, as an assistant professor, played a key role in drafting the Statement on Academic Freedom.

“Academic freedom – especially the 1974 statement’s prohibition of ‘institutional orthodoxy’ – was of critical importance in the university’s response to the campus protests over U.S. involvement in Vietnam in the early 1970s, and it is no less important today,” Brest said.

Stanford’s then president, Richard Lyman, submitted the statement to the Board of Trustees with his strong personal endorsement, noting that “it is inevitable that language which is intended both to describe existing policy and practice and to guide future custodians of its spirit through issues which we can hardly foresee may seem ambiguous in some particulars.” The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the statement on Sept. 10, 1974.

Looking forward

In 2023, responding to renewed concerns about speech on campus, the Faculty Senate convened an Ad Hoc Committee on University Speech to review constraints on academic freedom and speech and to make recommendations, if necessary, as to how the senate conducts oversight of the issue. The ad hoc committee consulted extensively with university community members and examined Stanford’s governing documents and processes related to speech before presenting its final report to the Faculty Senate.

In May of this year, the Faculty Senate adopted the Statement on Freedom of Expression at Stanford, which emphasizes Stanford’s long-standing commitment to freedom of expression, free inquiry, and the open exchange of ideas. The senate also approved an Institutional Statements Policy, which calls for university leaders to avoid expressing opinions on political and social controversies that do not directly affect the university’s mission.

Bernadette “Bernie” Meyler, the Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law, chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on University Speech and was instrumental in drafting the two documents.

“We envisioned these as complements to the existing 1974 Statement on Academic Freedom, which both the senate and the trustees approved,” said Meyler, who is also the associate dean for research and intellectual life at the law school. “When matters of such core institutional value are at stake, it is crucial that many constituencies across the university coalesce around them.”

This academic year, Meyler will serve as a special advisor to the provost helping to clarify, further develop, and implement policies connected to the new statement and policy.