Yale University has become the latest premiere institution to adopt institutional neutrality, announcing Wednesday the decision “will strengthen Yale’s ability to uphold and defend academic freedom and the academic enterprise.”
President Maurie McInnis — who took the helm of the Ivy League institution in July — published a statement that she will accept the recommendations of the Committee on Institutional Voice, which spent the last two months listening to feedback and developing guidance.
The committee found university leaders “should refrain from issuing statements concerning matters of public, social, or political significance, except in rare cases.” Only matters that directly overlap with the university’s “core mission, values, functions, or interests” should prompt a possible statement.
Still, the committee found at times Yale may want to weigh in on external matters, “but leaders should issue such statements infrequently and only on matters that are, in their judgment, of transcendent importance to the community.”
McInnis, in her acceptance of the recommendations, clarified this applies to the president and deans and department chairs — not individual students and faculty members.
“I am committed to upholding a culture of teaching and learning at our university. I will encourage our students to look to Yale as a place where they will learn to speak for themselves, to probe assumptions and ask questions, and to listen with openness when confronted with disagreement,” McInnis wrote.
Co-chairs of the committee, in an op-ed in the Yale Daily News, said the development doesn’t mean Yale will never make institutional statements.
“By specifying that such statements should be rare and focused on the University’s mission and values, we hope the report will shift expectations. Rather than expecting leaders to respond regularly and rapidly to events through statements, we should appreciate the fact that the University itself provides the myriad fora for learning, debate and articulation of points of view on matters of the day — fora that leaders can help support and even create when the times call for them,” wrote Professors Michael Della Rocca and Cristina Rodriguez.
Yale joins many other top-tier universities that have implemented institutional neutrality this year. As The College Fix previously reported, it’s a trend that shows administrators are likely becoming weary of taking sides on hot button topics, thereby upsetting donors, alumni, lawmakers and students.
Stanford, Syracuse, Harvard, USC, Purdue, Johns Hopkins, the University of Texas system and others have implemented the policy.
MORE: Syracuse breaks ‘institutional neutrality’ pledge after 3 days
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