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Stanford
Office of the President

President’s Statements on Academic Freedom and Free Expression

This page provides links to President Tessier-Lavigne’s statements and writings on academic freedom and free expression, beginning with “Advancing Free Speech and Inclusion,” a piece he authored with Provost Persis Drell in 2017.

Academic freedom and free expression are central to the academic mission of the university, as well as to the inclusive culture we wish to support and nurture. In recent years, our community’s discussions of these topics have included speech that may be offensive or hurtful to individuals or groups; consideration of outside speakers; requests for the university to make statements about the views of faculty members that some deem objectionable; concerns about the ability of individuals to share varying perspectives without fear of recrimination; and concerns about doxing and other forms of speech that seek to silence the speech of others.

These and other topics are addressed in the links below. Additional resources on these issues are available on the this website.