The Philadelphia Statement
Smith Scholar
On August 11, 2020, a “group of prominent thinkers, scholars, and practitioners” released the Philadelphia Statement in order to affirm “the uniquely American commitment to free speech.” The Statement aims to reemphasize the importance of free speech in American society. It does not endorse any specific political party or ideology. Rather, it calls for greater respect between people with opposing ideas and philosophies. The ultimate goal of the project is to reinvigorate a commitment to free speech in the United States so that all people can “speak their minds and honor their deepest convictions without fear of punishment and retaliation."
The Statement specifically names “Social media mobs, cancel culture and campus speech policing” as examples of threats to free speech today. The authors of this declaration believe that healthy debates between people of different beliefs are essential to the preservation and progress of American society and that one of the primary places where these debates should take place is at colleges and universities. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said that “people will be best able to distinguish truth from falsity if they have an opportunity to hear a variety of different opinions.” The people behind the Philadelphia Statement hope that their work will allow for greater sharing of a variety of opinions in the pursuit of truth. The Statement calls for free speech to be protected and encouraged in many places but particularly on college campuses.
While the Statement offers staunch support for free speech, it recognizes that “our free speech tradition is not absolutist. It does not embrace certain, limited categories of speech, such as defamation, obscenity, intimidation and threats, and incitement to violence.” However, the authors worry that people will often falsely claim that unpopular opinions are defamation, obscenity, intimidation, or incitement to violence. In reality, however, those adverse opinions may be important considerations for arriving at the truth. Therefore, movements such as the Philadelphia Statement are necessary to encourage civil discourse and to inform people about what distinguishes a normal debate from actual hate speech.
Since its publication just a few months ago, over 15,500 people have signed the Philadelphia Statement to signify their commitment to free speech. Please follow the link below to learn more about the Philadelphia Statement and how to sign.
University of Chicago, Statement on Principles of Free Expression
The University of Chicago is an institution fully committed to the creation of knowledge across the spectrum of disciplines and professions, firm in its belief that a culture of intense inquiry and informed argument generates lasting ideas, and that the members of its community have a responsibility both to challenge and to listen…
The University is committed to the principle that it may not restrict debate or deliberation because the ideas put forth are thought to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed. It is for the members of the University community to make those judgments for themselves.
As a corollary to this commitment, members of the University community must also act in conformity with this principle. Although faculty, students, and staff are free to criticize, contest and condemn the views expressed on campus, they may not obstruct, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe.
For members of the University community, as for the University itself, the proper response to ideas they find offensive, unwarranted and dangerous is not interference, obstruction, or suppression. It is, instead, to engage in robust counter-speech that challenges the merits of those ideas and exposes them for what they are. To this end, the University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.
As Robert M. Hutchins observed, without a vibrant commitment to free and open inquiry, a university ceases to be a university. The University of Chicago’s long-standing commitment to this principle lies at the very core of the University’s greatness.”