Statement on Free Speech

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie issued the following statement on free speech.

As Indiana University continues to engage locally, nationally and internationally, we welcome and value the diverse population of students, faculty and staff who join our community to live and work on our campuses across the state. The rich abundance of cultures, traditions, perspectives and beliefs contributed by our diverse university community is a source of strength and pride.

In Indiana University's nearly 200 years of fulfilling our mission of excellence in education, our university has served as a place for members of its community to better understand the ideas, assertions, arguments, customs, traditions and beliefs of others.

We are also an institution committed to fostering civil discourse and creating a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds. As a public institution of higher education, we are bound by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and our university's unwavering mission to provide an excellent education and remain committed to academic freedom.

Indiana University is dedicated to evaluating new ideas, fostering meaningful debate and openly addressing the very real problems that confront the people of our state, country and world. As a leading international university, IU can be a model of how a free and open exchange of ideas within our diverse community can allow for robust discussions and debates that lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding and promote progress.

Within our culture of respect for each member of our university community, we must support a climate where the ideas and opinions -- even if those ideas and opinions seem in conflict with our values of diversity, equality and inclusion -- can be expressed, debated and protested openly.

In this spirit of promoting educational excellence through the free expression of ideas, Indiana University remains steadfastly committed to its academic mission, its values of equality, nondiscrimination, and inclusion, and the rights protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.