Office of thePresident
Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of Expression, Learning, and Community
Mission
The Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of Expression, Learning, and Community will define areas of concern, strength, and opportunity as we seek to understand the ways that expressive freedom and fostering a campus community, in which all members can thrive, advance Haverford’s educational mission, now and well into the future. Along with reporting its findings, the Committee will recommend to the president future actions for consideration. The Committee will:
- identify and assess the relationship between the College’s commitment to creating an inclusive educational learning community and the exercise of expressive freedom, including but not limited to political speech; as well as examine concerns related to antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of bias, harassment, discrimination, or hate. In so doing the Committee will:
- critically examine existing policies, procedures, and practices related to expression, academic freedom and responsibility, community expectations, and bias on campus, and their impact on Haverford’s mission;
- center the social Honor Code as foundational for students, and by extension, for the Haverford community, and examine the efficacy of policies for its creation, amendment, and implementation;
- consider how social media’s roles affect expressive and academic freedom, learning, and building community, acknowledging the potential for both positive and negative impacts;
- engage students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders in developing a more fulsome understanding of diverse perspectives on expressive freedom, a liberal arts education in an intimate and intellectually rigorous learning community, and community-building;
- explore best practices from other institutions and organizations that are successfully centering learning while fostering expressive and academic freedom in an inclusive community;
- develop consensus recommendation(s) to the president;
- prepare a report that includes: a summary of its work; a synopsis of its findings and the key topics and questions explored; recommendation(s) to the president; the rationale for such recommendation(s); and an articulation of principles that might guide future considerations of similar issues, should they arise.
Timeline
The Committee will commence work in September 2024 and target the following milestones:
- Monthly status updates to the president until its work is complete
- Interim report to the community January 2025
- Final report to the community June 2025
Committee Composition
- Cathy Koshland ‘72, Co-Chair; Corporation member
- Professor Shu-Wen Wang, Co-Chair; Psychology and Asian American Studies
- Professor Naomi Kolton-Fromm, Religion
- Professor Steven Lindell Computer Science
- Professor Giri Parameswaran, Economics
- Jess Lord, Admission and Financial Aid; Corporation member
- Sayeeda Rashid, Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Access
- Theresa Tensuan ‘89, Student Life
- Paul Turner, Libraries
- Bukky Olugbeko ‘25, past Student Affinity Coalition co-head
- Yehyun Song ‘25, Students’ Council co-president
- Adam Trencher ‘25
- Caroline Yao ‘27, Honor Council co-chair
- Vince Warren ‘86, Board of Managers
- Mac Gamse ‘93, Board of Managers
- David Wessel ‘75
- Jackie Brady ‘89, Corporation member
Staff support and Committee contact: Lisa Lonie, assistant chief of staff
Anticipated Outputs
The Committee will convene in Fall 2024, and aim to produce a final report and recommendations in Spring 2025. During this time the Committee will offer two progress reports to the community.