S-103-05
SMU STUDENT SENATE
Legislative Number: S-103-05 Final Vote: Majority Nay
Author(s): Fairooz Adams Senate Secretary: Will Jones
Dean of Student Life: Dr. Joanne Vogel Student Senate Chair: Will Stovall
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A RESOLUTION ON EXPANDING VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY &
FREE EXPRESSION AT SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
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WHEREAS At Southern Methodist University, we know that exposure to social, economic, intellectual, cultural, and academic diversity broadens our minds and prepares us for citizenship in a diverse democratic society
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ACKNOWLEDGING That the freedom of speech and the robust exchange of differing ideas enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution also forms the foundation of collegiate education in American academic tradition, and is vital to the cultivation of mature university graduates capable of critical evaluation of ideas and worldviews.
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RECOGNIZING Research shows that the kind of diversity that most improves the quality and creativity of thinking is viewpoint diversity. When everyone thinks alike, there is a danger of groupthink, prejudice, dogmatism, and orthodoxy. All students of the university benefit from interacting with individuals who view things differently.
ACKNOWLEDGING That other academic institutions in America have taken actions to suppress the exchange of differing ideas and freedom of speech and thought with pressure existing at Southern Methodist University to do the same within the last year. At a time when American democracy is polarizing into antagonistic camps and informational bubbles, many colleges and universities are becoming more intellectually and politically homogeneous. Orthodoxies arise, dissent is punished, and quality declines. We do not want that to happen in our community.
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RECOGNIZING That when in research too many people approach a problem with the same set of beliefs, it is very easy to let some assumptions go unchallenged, which does not bode well for academic rigor, deprives us of checks and balances on biases in the pursuit of knowledge, and places us further from the truth because assumptions go unchallenged.
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FURTHER NOTING Southern Methodist University generally has good tradition of respecting viewpoint diversity and freedom of speech amongst members of its faculty compared to other institutions.
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BE IT THEREFORE
RESOLVED We therefore welcome heterodoxy, meaning that we want to enshrine and protect the right of freedom of speech and expression of all members of the SMU community; support those within our community who hold dissenting or minority viewpoints; we want them to express their ideas, perspectives, and opinions freely and without fear of retaliation. We value viewpoint diversity not merely out of compassion for those of minority opinions but also because such diversity helps us all to develop skills essential for life after graduation, including the ability to judge the quality of ideas for ourselves, the ability to formulate arguments against ideas we reject, and the ability to live and work amicably alongside those whose ideas and values we do not share.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We urge the university to adopt the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression, which is a clear way for the university to show commitment to viewpoint diversity and free speechis by adopting the University of Chicago’s Principles on Freedom of Expression, which states in part:
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. It is for the individual members of the University community, not for the University as an institution, to make those judgments for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose. Indeed, fostering the ability of members of the University community to engage in such debate and deliberation in an effective and responsible manner is an essential part of the University’s educational mission.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We request that the university’s administration endorse the “Chicago Principles” as official university policy.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We also request the implementation of a non-obstruction policy for protests. We support the right of all students to protest against speakers and writers with whom they disagree, but we ask that protests be done in a way that does not deprive other students of their rights to speak and hear. When members of our community shout down a speaker, or take other actions intended to make it more difficult for a speaker to speak or for an audience to hear, they are practicing obstruction, censorship, and sometimes intimidation, not free speech. Such practices have no place in any academic community.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We request that the university formulate and enforce a non-obstruction policy. As stated in the Chicago Principles: “The University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation, but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.”
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED Approval of this resolution will authorize Fairooz Adams to go to the Faculty Senate on behalf of the Student Senate to present in favor of adopting a resolution to affirm the faculty’s commitment to viewpoint diversity and free expression on campus.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We affirm the value that students ought to be free to express their viewpoints without retaliation from the university. Students are free to apply social pressure to uphold social convention and counter disagreeable speech, but it is not the university’s place to be the judge of what is appropriate expression.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We request that the Chicago Principles and Southern Methodist University’s commitment to free speech will be affirmed during AARO and Mustang Corral for incoming freshmen and transfer students so as to ensure the expectation is clear from the outset.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED When a student or group of students attempt to curb another student or group’s ability to freely express themselves, the university’s administration will issue a statement affirming our support of the right of students and groups to free express themselves. The university must reaffirm its commitment to the Chicago Principles, though it up to the administration’s discretion how the language will be crafted to fit the details of the situation.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED Exceptions can be made for attempts to incite physical harm on others, for threatening students’ lives, liberties, and property. The same can also be done for the inciting of physical violence, damage to university property or for threatening to harm the lives and liberties of university personnel or students.
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED That Student Senate want the faculty to include in every syllabi the following: “This classroom supports viewpoint diversity and a free exchange of ideas. Differences in political ideology or religious viewpoint between the professor or instructor and the student cannot and should not adversely affect the grade of a student.”
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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED We wish to support the expansion of rigorous academic dialogue, viewpoint diversity, and protect freedom of speech and thought. We request that the university include viewpoint diversity, freedom of speech, and particularly political diversity, in its diversity policies and in its efforts to diversify the faculty and the curriculum. We want to encounter a range of viewpoints in the classroom, just as we will after we graduate.
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Respectfully Submitted,
Fairooz Adams
Dedman Senator
My thoughts:
Please see my official statement on Freedom of Speech and recent racially motivated incidents by clicking here.
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