CIC’s Campus Free Expression Project supports CIC member institutions in creating respectful environments for open inquiry, free expression, and civil discourse. Many CIC members are seeking new ways to teach students to approach opinions that differ from their own with curiosity and tolerance and to provide them with skills for dialogue across differences. Here are our latest resources to support these efforts:
- The reports of CIC’s Academic Leaders Task Force on Campus Free Expression, led by bipartisan co-chairs former governors Chris Gregoire (D-WA) and Jim Douglas (R-VT), offer tailored guidance for presidents, trustees, faculty members, and student affairs officers, and tabletop exercises to use with presidential cabinets, trustees, and faculty and staff members.
- Speaking of the CIC Academic Leaders Task Force on Campus Free Expression, Task Force member and Baylor University (TX) President Linda Livingstone was interviewed on the Harvard Graduate School of Education Education Now webinar, “Maintaining a Culture of Free Expression on Campus.”
- CIC President Marjorie Hass and Project Senior Director Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill provide guidelines for presidents about how to use their institutional voice wisely. Read their advice.
- According to Understanding the Landscape of Graduate Programs, a report that summarizes the findings of a 2024 survey about graduate programs and students at CIC colleges and universities, 78 percent have graduate offerings. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill recommends steps to incorporate education about academic freedom into graduate student training. Read her suggestions.
Will you or your colleagues attend the CIC’s Institute for Chief Academic Officers in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 1–4? If so, please engage with the Campus Free Expression Project there:
- Attend the session on “Fostering a Culture of Free Expression and Civil Discourse,” co-led by Megan Halteman Zwart, provost and vice president for academic affairs at St. Mary’s College (IN), and Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill.
- Schedule a consultation about academic affairs strategies for fostering a culture of free expression with Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill.
CIC believes that free expression must be linked with respectful discourse across differences. We were glad to partner with the Constructive Dialogue Institute to strengthen student, staff, and faculty skills for civil discourse with a cohort of eight member institutions:
- College of Wooster (OH)
- Goshen College (IN)
- Hartwick College (NY)
- Presbyterian College (SC)
- Rhodes College (TN)
- Sweet Briar College (VA)
- Trinity University (TX)
- Washington & Jefferson College (PA)
Read more about the CIC-Constructive Dialogue Institute 2025–26 cohort.
The Campus Free Expression Project is a resource for all CIC member institutions. To schedule a consultation at any point as you consider how to craft durable policy and culture change on free expression, or simply to learn more about CIC’s work of these topics, please contact Project Senior Director Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill.