Attacks on social networks on a geophysicist’s lecture, for his positions on diversity in the academy, led to the elaboration of a manifesto in defense of freedom of expression at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The document states that the institution “cannot ban speeches that some consider offensive or harmful.”
Prepared by a study group at the request of the college president, the manifesto maintains that the university has a tradition of proposing provocative thoughts and controversial views and that free expression is a necessary condition for a diverse and inclusive community.
“At the same time, MIT deeply values ​​civility, mutual respect, and uninhibited, open debate. Controversies over freedom of expression are learning opportunities, not occasions for disciplinary action,” says the document, released in its shortened and full version on the Cambridge-based institution’s website on the 1st.
The trigger for the elaboration of the letter was the cancellation, in October 2021, of a lecture by geophysicist Dorian Abbot — on the climate and the possibility of life on other planets — due to an avalanche of criticism of the positions of the professor at the University of Chicago in relation to diversity and inclusion in American higher education institutions. The backlash against him came from MIT students and alumni, whom Abbot called activists.
In an opinion piece published in Newsweek, the expert argued that current diversity efforts — known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI — at US universities violate the equal treatment of students and faculty and influence course content and teaching methods.
“DEI seeks to increase the representation of some groups by discriminating against members of other groups,” he writes in the text, signed with Stanford University business professor Ivan Marinovic.
In place of the DEI, the duo advocates a framework called Merit, Justice and Equality, whereby “university applicants are treated as individuals and evaluated through a rigorous and impartial process based solely on their merit and qualifications.”
They also make a comparison of affirmative policies in academic environments with Nazism, without mentioning Adolf Hitler’s regime explicitly. According to the authors, Germany had the best universities in the world 90 years ago, until a race-obsessed ideological regime took over and expelled some of the country’s most respected academics, which led to a decline in the quality of the country’s colleges, from which they never recovered.
“We should see this as a warning about the consequences of viewing group participation as more important than merit — and correcting our course before it’s too late,” they write.
Announcing the manifesto for academic freedom at MIT this month, Leo Rafael Reif, the institution’s president, said that making room for the full range of thought and expression is not an end in itself. “Instead, the right to free speech is a tool — a sharp tool — to broaden understanding and uncover the truth.”
Abbot’s lecture ended up taking place at Princeton University on the day it was scheduled to be hosted by MIT—October 21.
Read the full MIT document below.
The report of the Specific Working Group on Freedom of Expression recommended that the following MIT statement on freedom of expression and academic freedom be considered and adopted by MIT faculty.
MIT Statement on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom
The influential Lewis Report of 1949 noted that MIT’s mission was to “encourage initiative, promote the spirit of free and objective inquiry, recognize and provide opportunities for unusual interests and attitudes”, and develop “individuals who will contribute creatively to our society”. With a tradition of celebrating thought-provoking, controversial views and non-compliance, MIT unequivocally endorses the principles of free speech and academic freedom.
Freedom of expression is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition of a diverse and inclusive community. We cannot have a truly free speech community if some perspectives can be heard and others cannot. Diversity of thought is an essential ingredient of academic excellence.
Freedom of expression promotes creativity by asserting the ability to exchange ideas without restrictions. It not only facilitates individual autonomy and self-fulfillment, but also provides for participation in collective decision-making and is essential for the search for truth and justice. Freedom of expression is enhanced by the doctrine of academic freedom, which protects intramural and extramural expression without censorship or institutional discipline. Academic freedom promotes academic rigor and the testing of ideas, protecting research, publishing and teaching from interference.
MIT does not protect direct threats, harassment, plagiarism, or other speech that falls outside the boundaries of the First Amendment to the Constitution. In addition, the time, place and mode of protected expression, including organized protests, can be contained so as not to disrupt the Institute’s essential activities.
At the intersection of the ideal of free speech with the values ​​of the MIT community lies the expectation of a respectful and affirmative learning and working environment. We cannot ban speech that some find offensive or harmful. At the same time, MIT deeply values ​​civility, mutual respect, and uninhibited, open debate.
Controversies over freedom of expression are opportunities for learning, not occasions for disciplinary action. This applies widely. For example, when MIT leaders speak out on issues of public interest, whether in their own voice or on behalf of MIT, it should always be understood as open to debate by the broader MIT community.
A commitment to free speech includes listening to and hosting speakers, including those whose ideas or opinions may not be shared by many members of the MIT community and may be harmful to some. This commitment includes the freedom to peacefully criticize and protest against speakers one opposes, but does not extend to suppressing or restricting those speakers from expressing their opinions. Debate and deliberation of controversial ideas are characteristic of the Institute’s educational and research missions, and are essential to the pursuit of truth, knowledge, equity and justice.
MIT has played a leading role in the ongoing transformation of communications technology, and recent digital and networked modes of speech make our campus more accessible to everyone. At the same time, these technologies make our campus more disembodied and more vulnerable to the pull of ideological extremes.
While new modes of discourse change the character of expression, such technologies need not and should not diminish our commitment to the values ​​underlying freedom of expression, even as we adapt creatively to meet the needs of our physical and virtual landscapes.
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