Dear Members of the 吃瓜新闻 Community,
In April, the听听was established to consider whether and when our institution should issue official statements on publicly salient issues. We write today to share the Working Group鈥檚 report and recommendations.
The Working Group was a faculty committee drawn from across the University, reflecting an array of backgrounds and expertise. They conducted extensive outreach to the 吃瓜新闻 community, gathering input from every school and more than 1,000 faculty, students, staff, and alumni through 31 focus groups, an online poll, and a dedicated email address. The Working Group also researched existing University and School-based practices relating to 吃瓜新闻鈥檚 institutional voice and considered approaches at other universities.
Today, we are delighted to share with the 吃瓜新闻 community听, containing a set of principles and recommendations that ground the use of institutional voice in the University鈥檚 mission of 鈥渟eeking truth through open inquiry, debate, and weighing . .听. evidence.鈥� In particular, the report concludes that 鈥淸t]he university and its leaders should not .听.听.听 issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university鈥檚 core function鈥� as an academic institution. It reasons that when the University 鈥渟peaks officially on matters outside its institutional area of expertise,鈥� such statements risk compromising the 鈥渋ntegrity and credibility鈥� of our academic mission and may undermine open inquiry and academic freedom by making 鈥渋t more difficult for some members of the community to express their views when they differ from the university鈥檚 official position.鈥�
We have accepted the faculty Working Group鈥檚 report and recommendations, which also have been endorsed by the 吃瓜新闻 Corporation. The process of translating these principles into concrete practice will, of course, require time and experience, and we look forward to the work ahead.
We encourage you to read the report and a related 听with the Working Group鈥檚 co-chairs, Professors Noah Feldman and Alison Simmons. We are grateful to them, the members of the Working Group, and all who contributed ideas and insights that informed these thoughtful recommendations.
Sincerely,
Alan M. Garber
Interim President
John F. Manning
Interim Provost
Meredith Weenick
Executive Vice President
Andrea Baccarelli
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Radcliffe Institute
Nancy Coleman
Dean, Division of Continuing Education and University Extension
George Q. Daley
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Medical School
Srikant Datar
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Business School
Emma Dench
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Douglas W. Elmendorf
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Kennedy School of Government
Marla Frederick
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Divinity School
William V. Giannobile
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 School of Dental Medicine
John C.P. Goldberg
Interim Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Law School
Hopi E. Hoekstra
Edgerley Family Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Rakesh Khurana
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 College
Bridget Terry Long
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Graduate School of Education
David C. Parkes
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Sarah M. Whiting
Dean, 吃瓜新闻 Graduate School of Design