Free Expression

News and Programming

President Paul Alivisatos addresses the importance of free expression at the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum.

News and Programming

This page details communications, events, programming, and news articles related to the University’s commitment to free expression and open discourse.

On the Culture of Debate at Universities (Transcription)

Academic Freedom and Other Unfreedoms: India in Comparative Perspective
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
February 24, 2023
(Video)

Free Expression and Democracy
Obama Foundation Democracy Forum
Paul Alivisatos, President
November 17, 2022
(Video)

Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression
Anthony Julius
November 9, 2022
(Video)

Education demands free speech plus inclusion, Chicago university chief says
Financial Times
August 16, 2021
(News Article)

How President Robert J. Zimmer built the future of UChicago by affirming its founding values
UChicago News
June 17, 2021
(News Article)

More Colleges Adopting Chicago Principles for Free Speech
Inside Higher Education
December 8, 2020
(News Article)

Progress on Campus Free Speech?
Forbes
March 19, 2020
(Opinion)

Learn from the US response to the ‘heckler’s veto’
Newsroom (New Zealand)
December 4, 2019

(Opinion)

Williams: Some colleges committed to ideological diversity
Boston Herald
June 5, 2019

(Opinion)

Prof. Martha Nussbaum endows student roundtables to support free expression
UChicago News
January 22, 2019
(News Article)

Free Expression Campus Life Meeting
2018 Orientation Week
Campus and Student Life
October 18, 2018

(Video)

35 Universities Adopt ‘The Chicago Statement’ On Free Speech—1,606 To Go
Forbes
February 28, 2018
(News Article)

The Free-Speech University
Wall Street Journal
February 16, 2018
(News Article)

The University of Chicago puts its principles to the test
The Economist
February 15, 2018
(News Article)

The U. of C.’s valuable lesson: Sure, Steve Bannon can speak 
Chicago Tribune
January 25, 2018
(News Article)

America’s Best University President
The New York Times
October 20, 2017
(News Article)

Presidents and Provosts Gather to Consider Free Speech Issues
Inside Higher Ed
October 16, 2017
(News Article)

Setting the Agenda: The First Amendment on College Campuses
The Washington Post
June 20, 2017
(News Article)

UChicago hosts student-led conference on free expression
UChicago News
May 2, 2017
(News Article)

Free Speech at UChicago
College Admissions
October 19, 2016
(Video)

Free Speech on Campus: A Challenge of Our Times
2016 Aims of Education Address
Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law
September 22, 2016
(Video)

Academic Freedom and the Modern University
John W. Boyer, Dean of the College and Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor in History and the College
August 2016
(Monograph)

Colleges Draw Hard Lines Against Calls to Restrict Speech
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 29, 2016
(News Article)

Hard to say: A statement at the heart of the debate over academic freedom
The Economist
January 30, 2016
(News Article)

FIRE Launches Campaign in Support of University of Chicago Free Speech Statement
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
September 2015
(Press Release)

Statement on Principles of Free Inquiry
Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law
July 2012
(Statement)

Cultivating the habit of free inquiry
Kimberly Goff-Crews, Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students in the University
Chicago Maroon
April 15, 2011
(Opinion-Editorial)

A Challenge and an Opportunity
Kimberly Goff-Crews, Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students in the University
Chicago Maroon
October 23, 2009
(Opinion-Editorial)

“The University’s seriousness of purpose was proven from the first by its insistence upon freedom of inquiry and discussion.

Edward H. Levi
Inauguration Address, November 1968

“Academic freedom is important, not because of its benefits to professors, but because of its benefits to all of us.”

Laird Bell
Chair, 1949–1953
The University of Chicago Board of Trustees