Free Inquiry and Expression on College 校园es

2022年9月15日

In previous editions of 独特的W&L, I have focused primarily on financial issues:  the cost of college, the value of liberal arts education, and how we use our endowment to increase access and affordability.  Today I turn my attention to an issue much in the news, 这直接触及了我们使命的核心:大学校园里自由探究和自由表达的状态.

对高校言论自由的关注是对各种广为宣传的现象的回应.  校园有时会禁止某些言论，如果这些言论被认为是有害的，或者与建立包容性社区的愿望相悖.  Speakers are sometimes disinvited or disrupted.  Politicians sometimes attempt to influence the curriculum.  Students sometimes report reluctance to say what they think, for fear of being judged by their peers or their professors.  

W在哪里?&L stand on these issues?

Our commitment to free inquiry and expression is foundational, as reflected in the opening words of our mission statement:

Washington and Lee University develops students' capacity to think freely, 批判性的, and humanely and to conduct themselves with honor, 完整性, 和文明.  Graduates will be prepared for lifelong learning, 个人成就, 负责任的领导人hip, 为他人服务, 参与其中的公民hip in a global and diverse society.

Our very purpose is to help young people get better at examining, 评估, and expressing points of view.  Liberal arts education teaches students to pose questions, 挑战假设, consider competing interpretations, 并根据可获得的最佳信息和最具说服力的论点得出结论.  We strive to cultivate these habits of mind in our students, in the service of their becoming lifelong learners, 负责任的领导人, 参与其中的公民.

我们的包容性和校园气候委员会表明了W大学对这些基本价值观的深度支持&2015年，芝加哥大学一致通过了备受推崇的《太阳城集团》.  太阳城集团是美国首批支持芝加哥原则的大学之一, doing so in the same year that they were published.

Values, mission statements, and principles are important.  But so is living them out.  我们做得怎么样??

我们的社区对考验我们价值观的复杂情况的反应方式，是我们表现的一个重要指标.  Two recent examples are illuminating.

2020年秋天, one of our first-year writing seminars, entitled "How to Overthrow the State:  Historical Lessons from the Global South," became national news.  Television and social media distorted the course, called for it to be shut down, and even threatened the professor.  我的回答是 robust public defense of the free exchange of ideas 在我们的教室里, 并解释了这门课程如何通过学习革命文本帮助学生成为更有影响力和说服力的作家, 包括 Declaration of Independence -- contributes to our educational mission.  很多在美国&L社区对我们价值观的强烈肯定和应用表示赞赏.  这篇文章也引起了两党政策中心校园自由表达项目的注意, which has since invited W&L to participate in presidential forums on these important issues.

一年后, during the run-up to Virginia's gubernatorial election, 学院共和党成员被告知，他们在校园内分发竞选材料违反了学校政策.  这项政策是长期存在的，也是出于善意——旨在遵守美国国税局(IRS)禁止该校参与政治活动的规定——多年来一直适用于民主党和共和党团体.  But in response to this incident W&我的学生, 教师, and alumni expressed a desire, 我分享了, 这一政策将允许最广泛的政治表达自由.  我们审查了其他学校的法律环境和做法，并采取了一项改进的政策，允许我们的学生在校园里竞选，而不会与国税局发生冲突.

These examples speak to our values, to how deeply they are held by our community, 当情况出现时，我们采取务实的方法，使我们意识到有机会比我们已经做的更好地应用它们.

另一个衡量标准是由个人权利和言论基金会(FIRE)发布的大学言论自由排名。, which is based upon an assessment of campus policies and a student survey.  FIRE目前在所有私立学院和大学中排名第九，在全国文理学院中排名第四.  特别的优点, as reported by our own students, include tolerance for speakers across the political spectrum, and a rejection of disruptive behavior at speaking events.  但我们的一些学生也承认，在有争议的话题上表达自己感到不舒服.

人们有时不愿意在棘手的问题上畅所欲言，这不仅仅是在太阳城集团&L but on most every college campus, is understandable.  在我们生活的这个世界里，如果你说了别人认为是错误的话，个人和职业上的惩罚往往是迅速而无情的.  在我们生活的世界里，分歧经常演变成残酷的人身攻击.  With these realities in mind, 难怪许多人羞于就有争议的话题坦率地交谈.  我们的学生报告, 意料之中的是, that racial inequality, 变性问题, and abortion are among the subjects they find most difficult to discuss.

Although the hesitation to speak is understandable, it is also concerning.  文科教育依赖于讨论，在讨论中，观点被清楚地表达出来, 彻底检查, and revised in light of good evidence and argument.  Learning to participate in respectful debates on contested issues, 通过真诚地倾听他人的意见，并提出自己的观点，以供批判性审查, is essential preparation for becoming an eng年龄d citizen and a responsible leader.  That makes it mission-至关重要的 at Washington and Lee.

我们坚持的价值观和我们擅长的教学方式可以帮助培养一种文化——无论是在我们的校园还是在更广阔的世界里——在这种文化中，人们更愿意也更有能力相互谈论困难的话题.

在W&L, our core values include thinking humanely, conducting ourselves with 完整性, and treating others with civility.  有了自由表达自己的权利，我们就有责任谨慎地选择我们的措辞.  To be humane, we must strive always to be thoughtful, sympathetic, and kind.  要有诚信，我们必须在社交媒体或电子邮件中对待他人，就像我们亲自对待他们一样.  要做到文明，我们必须尊重每一个人，包括那些与我们意见相左的人.  我们必须以这些高标准要求自己，并在我们做不到的时候互相鼓励做得更好.  礼貌地对待彼此——听起来很简单——是必要的，它能让每个人都感到足够自在，做自己，说出自己的想法.  我们对共同礼仪的承诺必须在校园和整个扩展的W中发扬光大&L社区.

我们的教室是最重要的场所之一，我们期待并引出自由和尊重的思想交流.  They are, as Provost Lena Hill stressed in her 召开地址 上周, “探索的地方，不同的观点不仅受到欢迎，而且受到鼓励和促进, sparking new ideas as well as rigorously drilling down into old ones."  I know from teaching my own seminar each fall term that W&我的学生 cherish this environment.  他们是独立的思考者，他们热情地加入由我们的教师领导的广泛而深入的讨论.

By nurturing our students' capacities as free, 至关重要的, 以及人道主义思想家, we not only expand the sphere of inquiry and expression on campus, 但也要把我们的毕业生培养成在重要和有争议的话题上尊重他人的公民.  这样，我们既履行了我们的使命，又为公众利益作出了重要贡献.