Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon

Edward H. Levi Hall, which houses many of the University’s administrative offices.

At 10 a.m. on March 26, in Max Palevsky Cinema, the leadership of the University of Chicago conducted a “Campus Conversation on Federal Affairs.” At issue was the flurry of executive orders and departmental actions on higher education from the Trump administration. These included threats to university health via changes in indirect cost recovery, threats to institutional autonomy via interpretive claims about the viability of specific DEI initiatives under federal law, as well as attempts to suppress free speech on campus via actions against broad classes of persons who are without the full protections of the first amendment. Other issues were the termination of grants and the possibility of federal funding withdrawal under conditions such as those given to Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. The anxiety in the room surely arose from Columbia’s agreements to place its Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies under so-called academic receivership and to conduct searches for new faculty in other departments in which non-academic forms of judgment will contribute to determine the outcome of the search.

In its opening remarks, the University’s leadership affirmed in very general terms its commitment to “our” core values of academic freedom and freedom of expression, as well as support for research and for students.  There followed questions from the in-person and online audiences. These were pointed, informed, carefully framed, and deeply grounded in the principles that sustain universities as universities: the autonomy of academic judgment on the part of individuals and collectives, openness to the world, and the equality of dignity of all persons in the community, without which “free inquiry” would be a sham.

What people wanted to hear was that our leaders understand the existential nature of the threat we are facing; that they understand that the threat is confronting higher education as a whole and that it is best faced—perhaps can only be faced—through collective action; and that the University will use its extraordinary resources of money and talent to protect its members.

In short, we wanted to hear that the University of Chicago will not elect to become less than a university in order to remain a site of federally funded research.

In honor of the brilliant colleagues who raised their voices in the meeting, I offer some red lines that we could elect not to cross and some stands we could choose to take:

• We understand attacks on any university to be an attack on our values. The university is an ideal, and we will defend it everywhere.
• We will not compromise on the autonomy of academic judgment. We will not allow outside pressure to intrude upon or affect teaching, grading, research, or hiring.
• We affirm the absolute right to academic and political speech, within the bounds of civil engagement, by all members of the community. We commit to defend these rights, including the provision of assistance to members of the University community whose legal status makes them vulnerable to state authority.
• We affirm the dignity and worth of all members of the University community and understand equality of dignity to be a precondition for freedom of speech. 
• We will not assist in the removal of any person from the University on the grounds that their speech causes offense. Furthermore, we will help any member who travels abroad to rejoin our community of inquiry.
• We will not bury our principles in private communication or direct messaging. The values that we endorse are worthy of speaking aloud, in the voice of the University, or we are not committed to them at all.

In theory, the University’s endowment exists to support the projects of teaching and inquiry.  Let’s not fail to be a university, simply to preserve the endowment.

Clifford Ando is the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Classics and History and in the College, as well as Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Ancient Studies at Stellenbosch University.