NEWS
Dear OU Community,
Next week marks the national celebration of Free Speech Week. This annual, non-partisan event recognizes the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – the rights of free speech, inquiry, and expression, which have been at the heart of the great American experiment since our very founding.
At OU, these rights are so ingrained in what we do as a university that we believe it’s essential to mark the occasion. That’s why we’ve set aside time to recognize Free Speech Week as a university. A slate of events will be offered during the days ahead, and I encourage you to participate. A complete listing of OU’s Free Speech Week events and activities is available here.
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. A university, at its best, is a lively crucible of personal and intellectual transformation, where free inquiry and diversity – in all its forms – flourish simultaneously. Academic freedom is a central function of a scholarly community, where faculty have the autonomy to freely pursue research and new knowledge. At OU, if we are to remain committed to preparing the next generation of leaders, we must be a place where we can engage in vibrant, constructive discourse and the robust search for truth while embracing our responsibility to respect each other, even when we do not see eye to eye.
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. At OU, we do not accept this false choice or narrative. We see both as essential for the very purpose of our university, which is to change lives in the kind of environment where people, ideas, innovations, and creativity thrive. During last year’s Free Speech Week, I offered a statement detailing this harmony and our pledge to defend it – a message that still rings true today.
This year, to further affirm our commitment to free expression and inquiry in a setting of diverse perspectives, I have received a recommendation from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Freedom of Speech and Inquiry Committee that the University of Oklahoma adopt the Chicago Statement – an overarching set of guiding principles that reinforce the importance of safeguarding freedom of expression on college campuses. The DEI/FSI Committee, co-chaired by Dr. Belinda Higgs Hyppolite, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, and Dr. Jeremy Bailey, Director of the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage, has spent several months studying these principles and why it makes sense to adopt them at OU. I am in agreement with the committee’s assessment, and I will be recommending that the OU Board of Regents approve the adoption of the Chicago Statement.
The Chicago Statement is fully consistent with OU’s existing policies on free expression and academic freedom, and its adoption indicates our continued commitment to upholding these constitutional rights while nurturing an inclusive campus community. First developed at the University of Chicago in 2014, more than 80 universities have since adopted the statement or crafted similar statements.
For over 130 years, the University of Oklahoma has worked in earnest to embody humanity at its best: to be a beacon of opportunity, where people from different places and all backgrounds are empowered to fulfill their potential and make a difference in the lives of others. Through our collective determination to uphold these ideals, the hope and promise for our future remains abundant – here at OU and across society.
Live On, University,
Joseph Harroz, Jr.
President
