Hundreds of colleges and universities have adopted free expression and institutional speech documents from the University of Chicago. In 1899, the University of Chicago faculty unanimously resolved that complete freedom of speech was fundamental to the institution’s mission to pursue knowledge and cultivate independent thinkers, a commitment President William Rainey Harper reaffirmed in his address at the university’s 36th convocation in 1900. The Kalven Report and the Chicago Principles carried that logic forward. In adopting and discussing these documents, the logic that academic free expression exists to advance inquiry often gets lost.
Expertise, Credentials, and the Value of the University
It seems we can’t trust our own credentials or those that we provide to our students. Or perhaps it would be better to say that we have so much confidence
Constance C. Relihan
May 18, 2026
