Whitten asks faculty council for recommendation on free speech

Indiana University President Pamela Whitten is asking the University Faculty Council to recommend to her whether the university adopt certain principles on free speech. 

In an undated letter to faculty council co-chairs, Whitten asked the council to evaluate adopting the Chicago Principles, a statement on the value of free expression signed by many other universities. 

Over 100 universities, including several others in the Big Ten conference, have endorsed the 2015 report issued at the University of Chicago. A group of professors penned the report after a series of campus protests over unpopular speakers.

Purdue University was the first public university to adopt the principles.

“This review offers an opportunity to affirm, in a clear and enduring way, Indiana University’s commitment to freedom of thought and expression,” she wrote. 

The UFC – a faculty government of sorts elected by professors – is no longer able to pass policy since changes introduced this year at the statehouse and ratified by the IU Board of Trustees. The body now operates in a purely advisory capacity. 

None of the three council chairs who received the letter responded to a request for comment. One councilmember, Professor of Fashion Design Heather Akou, told WFIU/WTIU in a written statement that in her personal view adopting to principles could be an improvement, but “the real question is whether the administration is willing to adhere.” 

Whitten sent her request amid a series of high-profile cases that have led some to question the university’s commitment to free speech.

Most recently, an IU professor was suspended from teaching after a student complained about a graphic she used describing “Make America Great Again” as a form of white supremacy. The university also recently backtracked on a decision to end print editions of the Indiana Daily Student after it directed the student paper to exclude news from physical copies. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is currently running a billboard campaign against the university. 

The next meeting of the UFC is Nov. 25.