Why Does Free Speech Matter on Campus?

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An interview with Kristen Shahverdian

Photo courtesy of Jasmina Tomic for PEN America

Kristen Shahverdian is the director of higher education and free expression at PEN America. The program focuses on defending the right to teach and learn against legislative infringements and on building a robust culture for free expression on campuses. Before joining PEN America, Shahverdian was a senior lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an adjunct professor at Rowan University and Temple University.

Why is freedom of speech essential to the mission of higher education, and why is it so important at this moment in time?

The open exchange of ideas is essential to the mission of higher education. For intellectual exploration and innovation to flourish, free speech and academic freedom must be protected and upheld.

We are in a time when free speech and academic freedom are being compromised, challenged, and in some states, outright trampled upon. The situation confronting us in the higher education sector today involves not only local controversies over commencement or other invited speakers, but also a raft of state laws and federal policies oriented toward exerting ideological control over what can be taught, learned, and even researched at the institutions.

Free speech is also essential to democracy. Campuses occupy a unique position in a democratic society, where the rising generation learn and practice free expression, and where free expression and academic freedom must be protected and upheld for the institution to thrive. At this moment, when higher education is being attacked by federal and state actors and where there are external pressures on colleges and universities to restrict free speech, it is critical that we continue to remind the sector, and those that wish to weaken it, that the academy cannot function without upholding freedom of expression for all.

How is PEN America working to help protect free speech on campuses?

PEN America’s approach has always been both defensive and affirmative. We defend higher education from legislative infringements to free speech and academic freedom in order that faculty and students have the freedom to teach and learn without censorship. We also seek to bolster the sector’s ability to uphold free speech through educational programming and resources. We know that defending the sector is critical at this moment when there are so many forces seeking to undermine free speech on campuses. We also believe that in order to work toward a culture of free expression for all, we must project that vision and help campuses achieve it.

Our ethos is that more expression is better than less. In our defensive work we invest in coalition building and public commentary, research (such as our yearly America’s Censored Campuses report), and advocacy. In our affirmative work, we help campuses take proactive steps to promote and embrace a culture of free expression by providing educational programming and resources (such as our Campus Free Speech Guide) grounding all campus constituents on the values of free speech. Campuses that take proactive steps to promote and embrace a culture of free expression are better prepared to handle controversies as they arise. Reactions to speech challenges should err on the side of protecting speech and avoid implementing restrictions that could infringe on the essential openness of the campus environment. At the same time campus leaders must address the impacts that speech can have on their communities and invest in the ongoing work of building trust, relationships, and the necessary support systems to uphold the rights of all students to participate freely and equally.

What is your top piece of advice to boards and college presidents currently navigating increased legislation around what can and cannot be said on campuses?

Stand by your institutional commitments to free speech. Do not fold quietly and do not over comply. We need our college presidents and boards to remain firm that they must uphold their obligations to free speech and academic freedom. Campus leaders must be free to assert and affirm their institution’s values as they see fit.

For the academy to thrive, its core functions, including research, teaching, admissions, and hiring must remain independent and free from political influence or control. Such institutional autonomy is a necessary prerequisite for academic freedom and the freedom to learn, and for ensuring universities remain drivers of a free and democratic society.

Boards and presidents need to look at their policies and ensure that they clearly articulate the institution’s commitments to free speech and academic freedom. Equally important, they must ensure that these policies are not in name only, but that there are articulated mechanisms by which they will uphold these principles in practice.

–Interview by Justine Ballard, assistant editor of Trusteeship