Discussing freedom of expression at the Academic Senate
Central Michigan University President Bob Davies and Academic Senate Chair Tracy Davis discussed their work on creating a Freedom of Expression Statement for the university.
Davies said that according to a recent survey done by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), CMU was one of the most restrictive universities in the country when it comes to freedom of expression on campus.
"Central Michigan University should be a national model for unwavering commitment to the exploration of ideas, ideologies and perceptions" he said. "But how do we foster that?"
As a result, an adhoc committee was created, focusing on creating more freedom of expression initiatives on campus. Davis said that the committee compared freedom of expression statements and webpages from some of the universities that ranked the highest.
Eventually, the committee found two statements the liked the most: The Yale Principles, which focuses on community and the impact of the principles and the Chicago Principles, which focus on the individual principles themselves and aims more at academia.
However, the committee could not decide between the two of them. As a result, two members each drafted a statement based on one of the sets of principles. Both drafts were provided to Senate members to view and discuss which they preferred more.
"We wanted to open up discussion today and get your viewpoints and ideas," Davies said. "No one wants Yale or Chicago, but we want to know what you want."
The senate floor went into a "Committee of the Whole," which is an open floor debate on legislation where the traditional rules of the senate are relaxed.
While Davis described her committee as being "split" on the two proposed statements, a majority of those who spoke up at the senate meeting spoke in favor of the Yale principles.
"This is an opportunity to revise some of our policies," Senator Brad Swanson said. "If some of our policies are in contradiction to that (free speech and expression), I think it's time to revise those policies, rather than saying 'this is what we have' and making sure everything fits."
Swanson along with others spoke about the community aspect of the Yale principles and how they could open up more leadership opportunities.
One senator, John Allen, said liked the Chicago principles when it came to their concepts.
"I think it provides some very core examples that you don't see as much in Yale's policy," he said. "I think it's more emcompassing with community linkages. ... I would be in favor of Yale, but I would like to some of those Chicago concepts adopted within it."
The senate will vote on which principles they prefer or offer an alternative approach at the Academic Senate meeting on April 9. If passed, it will be recommended to university administration and they will decide what's next.
Additionally, the senate edited three majors of study at CMU:
- A certificate for postgraduate student counseling has been added to the CMU course. The certificate is expected to make 15 credits to complete
- The Media Arts and Media Studies concentration received some edits to the major. Due to Broadcast and Cinematic Arts being changed to Media Arts, the major received various language changes to reflect this. The major has also been reduced from 33 credit hours to 30.
- The undergraduate Global Governance and Advocacy major has been deleted due to a lack of student enrollment.
The senate also approved a moratorium, or a delay, on adding new general education courses. The general education program is currently being revised by the General Education Committee.
The last major revision of General Education courses occurred in 2008-2009 through the Academic Senate and General Education Committee.
Future Academic Senate meetings will occur at 3:30 p.m every other Tuesday at the EHS building in the French auditorium. Livestreams of this meeting and all future meetings can be found on CMU’s website.
