PEN America, a nonprofit that supports writers’ free expression, just released a digital guide to free speech on campus. Among other resources, the guide offers case studies and legal advice for university leaders on how to handle controversies around academic freedom, campus speakers and hate speech. Users can also look at sample policies and statements related to these issues.
The guide is the result of a three-year collaboration with administration, faculty and students.
“This guide brings together their collective wisdom, and aims to fill their need for detailed, actionable guidance on how to balance protections for free speech on campus with efforts to advance diversity and inclusion,” said Dr. Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s campus free speech project. “We hope the guide serves as a starting to place to inform campus stakeholders not only about the law, but also about best practices for how to promote dialogue, encourage the free exchange of ideas, and ensure an inclusive environment where all community members have opportunities to be heard.”
To accompany the guide’s launch, PEN America will be hosting a Thursday panel discussion at NYU with New York University’s Center for the Humanities and Institute for Public Knowledge called “Campus at a Crossroads: Free Speech, Truth, and Democracy in an Election Year.”