[BIFI] Berkeley Initiative for Free Inquiry

Category: Resources

  • UC’s SB 108 Speech Guidelines

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    Chris Hoofnagle
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    UC President Michael Drake, in response to a requirement imposed by California legislatures, released guidelines for all UC campuses to implement and enforce rules surrounding protests. The guidelines require several categories of rules: UC Berkeley’s implementation of the student conduct rules are here. UC Berkeley also has a more general summary here.

  • Pinker’s Five-Point Plan for Harvard

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    Chris Hoofnagle
    in ,

    Harvard Professor Steven Pinker published a five-point “plan to save Harvard from itself:” Free speech. Universities should adopt a clear and conspicuous policy on academic freedom. It might start with the First Amendment, which binds public universities and which has been refined over the decades with carefully justified exceptions. These include crimes that by their very…

  • Alivisatos on Campus Free Speech

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    Chris Hoofnagle
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    University of Chicago President (and former Berkeley Professor) Paul Alivisatos wrote a message to campus extolling free speech as both a gift and a collective responsibility: Ours is a culture built upon a fundamental commitment to place evidence, reason, logic, and rigor over authority, tradition, ideology, or dogma. The University can only achieve this vision…

  • Provost on Political Activity

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    Chris Hoofnagle
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    On October 25, 2023, Provost Benjamin Hermalin posted this message to CalMessages. Dear Community,   I write to remind people of University policy as pertains to academic freedom and political advocacy in the classroom. While instructors enjoy considerable freedom and all individuals, when acting as private citizens, enjoy free speech rights, University policy does impose…

  • Jenny Martinez on Free Speech

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    Chris Hoofnagle
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    On March 9th, 2023, students at Stanford disrupted a talk by Judge Kyle Duncan. In response, then Dean Jenny Martinez penned a detailed memo explaining Stanford Law’s commitment to free speech. In August 2023, Martinez became Stanford’s Provost.