> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • The Evolution of Race in Admissions
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
A diverse group of raised hands above a university building

Race on Campus

Engage in higher ed’s conversations about racial equity and inclusion. Delivered on Tuesdays. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, sign up to receive it in your email inbox.

January 3, 2023
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

From: Adrienne Lu

Subject: Race on Campus: When College Presidents Should Speak Out on Racism

Welcome to Race on Campus. Many college leaders these days are debating whether it’s ever appropriate to take a position on social and political issues. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, many have grappled with whether to make a statement about race or structural racism, for example. Our Adrienne Lu recently wrote about a 1967 report that some college leaders are turning to for guidance as they consider when colleges should take institutional positions.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Welcome to Race on Campus. Many college leaders these days are debating whether it’s ever appropriate to take a position on social and political issues. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, many have grappled with whether to make a statement about race or structural racism, for example. Our Adrienne Lu recently wrote about a 1967 report that some college leaders are turning to for guidance as they consider when colleges should take institutional positions.

If you have ideas, comments, or questions about this newsletter, write to me: fernanda@chronicle.com.

‘The Assumption of Neutrality’

When George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officers four miles from the campus of Macalester College, in May 2020, its then president, Brian Rosenberg, felt he could not remain silent. People on campus were deeply hurting, he said, and wanted to hear something from him.

“I grieve for all of us, but especially for the people of color in our community who cannot feel safe driving a car or going to a store or jogging on a street,” Rosenberg wrote in a statement to the Macalester community. “They cannot send their children from their homes without a constant and gnawing fear. This undermines whatever claims our society has to being just and inclusive.”

I interviewed Rosenberg recently for a story about the Kalven Report, a 56-year-old statement by a University of Chicago faculty committee that has been mentioned more frequently in recent years on campuses as leaders think about whether it’s ever appropriate for colleges — or units within them — to take positions on the issues of the day.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees cited the Kalven Report last summer in a resolution reaffirming its commitment to academic freedom. The report has been discussed recently at the University of California at Berkeley and Princeton University. And it was cited in model legislation that has inspired laws in a handful of states.

At the time of the Kalven Report’s creation, in 1967, University of Chicago students were demanding that the administration take positions on the Vietnam War and divesting from South Africa.

The report argued in favor of institutional neutrality, declaring that the university should avoid taking stands on social and political issues so people on campus could speak as freely as possible. Supporters of institutional neutrality argue that when campus leaders take positions, they create an environment where dissenters may not feel free to express their views. Those supporters believe that colleges should focus on research and teaching, not participating in politics.

Nowadays, college leaders feel pressure to weigh in on a variety of topics. Following the murders of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which set off racial-justice protests, for example, college leaders, including Rosenberg, have often felt compelled to speak up about race and structural racism.

Mary Dana Hinton, president of Hollins University, a women’s college in Virginia, was among those who pushed back against the notion that colleges should aspire to institutional neutrality.

“The assumption of neutrality serves those who get to determine what is and is not neutral,” Hinton said. “Institutional neutrality, if it exists at all, is predicated on the notion that there is a singular truth and that there’s one group determining that, and therefore they can be neutral in response to all other positions.”

There is a sense now, Hinton said, that people at one end of the political spectrum are not able to speak freely on college campuses. But for a long time, she said, there were many others who didn’t have a voice. “I don’t think this notion of people feeling silenced is all that new,” Hinton said. “I think what’s new is that it’s not those who dwell on the margins who are feeling silenced any longer, and folks are having a hard time adjusting to that.”

Rosenberg, now a visiting professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has argued that American colleges have never been truly independent from social and political forces. Selective universities that restricted Jewish or Black admissions in the past, for example, may not have made institutional statements about what they were doing, but they were making policy choices with real impacts, he said.

As president of Macalester for 17 years, Rosenberg said he often turned to the college’s mission statement, which speaks to scholarship with an emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society, for guidance on when to make a statement.

After Floyd’s murder, Rosenberg said, he also felt he needed to play a pastoral role to help comfort those on campus who needed it. “You really have some responsibility as a leader to speak to those people, [to] allow them to feel that the institution feels their pain and that the leadership feels their pain,” he said.

Read Up

  • In Louisiana, some Republican lawmakers want to change how Black residents are counted in voting maps. Why? (NPR)
  • At the Morehouse School of Medicine, a team of mental-health specialists meet with low-income children and teenagers of color — people who are often overlooked in the teenage mental-health crisis. A 2017 study found that only 8 percent of people in the lowest-income communities see a practicing mental-health specialist. (The New York Times)
  • During her first few months as president of Pennsylvania State University, Neeli Bendapudi decided to scrap plans for the University Park campus’s Center for Racial Justice. Cutting the center, a project envisioned by her predecessor in the summer of 2020, sparked protests and confusion from faculty members and students alike. (The Chronicle)

    —Fernanda

    Adrienne Lu
    Adrienne Lu writes about politics in higher education and students — with a focus on underrepresented students. She can be reached at adrienne.lu@chronicle.com or on Twitter @adriennelu.
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    • Explore
      • Get Newsletters
      • Letters
      • Free Reports and Guides
      • Blogs
      • Virtual Events
      • Chronicle Store
      • Find a Job
      Explore
      • Get Newsletters
      • Letters
      • Free Reports and Guides
      • Blogs
      • Virtual Events
      • Chronicle Store
      • Find a Job
    • The Chronicle
      • About Us
      • DEI Commitment Statement
      • Write for Us
      • Talk to Us
      • Work at The Chronicle
      • User Agreement
      • Privacy Policy
      • California Privacy Policy
      • Site Map
      • Accessibility Statement
      The Chronicle
      • About Us
      • DEI Commitment Statement
      • Write for Us
      • Talk to Us
      • Work at The Chronicle
      • User Agreement
      • Privacy Policy
      • California Privacy Policy
      • Site Map
      • Accessibility Statement
    • Customer Assistance
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Post a Job
      • Advertising Terms and Conditions
      • Reprints & Permissions
      • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
      Customer Assistance
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Post a Job
      • Advertising Terms and Conditions
      • Reprints & Permissions
      • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    • Subscribe
      • Individual Subscriptions
      • Institutional Subscriptions
      • Subscription & Account FAQ
      • Manage Newsletters
      • Manage Your Account
      Subscribe
      • Individual Subscriptions
      • Institutional Subscriptions
      • Subscription & Account FAQ
      • Manage Newsletters
      • Manage Your Account
    1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
    © 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
    • twitter
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • facebook
    • linkedin