The Equity/Excellence Imperative: A 2030 Blueprint for Undergraduate Education at U.S. Research Universities
Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities
The ten-year blueprint for higher education with a focus on equity.
In the area of Free Speech, the authors write about the issue of trust that needs to built among those who may fear being harmed by free speech. Strategies include (from the report, pp. 21-22)—convene panels to model civil, open debate; nurture habits of discourse in the classroom; hold formal debates; and, promote free speech as university and societal ideal:
“Begin, suggests Ronald Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, by convening panels rather than individual speakers to model civil, open debate on controversial issues.”
“Andrew Delbanco, president of the Teagle Foundation and Boyer 2030 Commissioner, suggests the best forum is the classroom—not large crowds, not on social media—but in a classroom where students know each other’s names: ‘Certain habits of mind—distinguishing between arguments and opinions, admitting self-doubt, rethinking assumptions— are,’ Delbanco argues, ‘imperative for collective life. If these habits are not nurtured in the college classroom, where else will they be found?”
“Another promising avenue involves expanding the parameters of tolerance by reinstituting formal debates in which students argue positions they may not hold themselves and by starting with lower-stakes issues before proceeding to those more consequential.”
“Promote freedom of speech and expression as a university and societal ideal.”
