OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. announced the university will adopt the Chicago Statement on Friday in celebration of national Free Speech Week, pending Board of Regents' approval.
The Chicago Statement is a set of principles that emphasizes the importance of freedom of expression on college campuses and was developed at the University of Chicago in 2014 and has been adopted by over 80 universities. Harroz, who plans to forward the proposal to the Board of Regents, wrote that the statement is “fully consistent” with OU’s policies on free expression and academic freedom.
“In a society permeated by deep political and social divides, there is a common misplaced assumption that honoring the principles of free speech and celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot coexist, or that one infringes upon the other,” Harroz wrote. “At OU, we do not accept this false choice or narrative.”
Harroz also announced a series of events slated during national Free Speech Week from Oct. 17-23, consisting of several speakers, including Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor, on threats to free speech by social media and Donald Downs, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, and Allison Stanger, a Middlebury College professor, both discussing free speech on campus.
Harroz said the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution are “ingrained” in the university’s practices, noting that Free Speech Week is an “essential” celebration.
“Taking the time to celebrate these inalienable rights may strike some as unusual or unnecessary. But as a public university, the freedom to speak and express forms the cornerstone of our academic enterprise,” Harroz wrote.
