Policy Updates and Core Values Draft Under Development

Friends,

I write today regarding several important updates, including an interim policy on expressive freedom and a draft set of core values. We began work on these documents, among others, several months ago to aid our community in continuing to speak across differences, while remaining anchored in a set of core values that reflect the type of community that we are and wish to be.

We have already sought and received feedback from several key groups, including the Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of Expression, Learning, and Community. The work of the Ad Hoc Committee was instrumental in advancing these key priorities, as the committee’s year-long engagement with all campus constituents, including alumni, helped to further identify some of the challenges and opportunities that exist for our community. We invite additional input from the community on the core values and expressive freedom policy as we seek to implement the final versions in the fall. Other policies will become effective over the summer, as detailed below.

Core Values

No other college or university offers a learning and living experience like Haverford, where students have unparalleled opportunities to shape their own path and collaborate in community. We strive to foster an intellectual learning community characterized by integrity, ambition, and purpose. The Ad Hoc Committee’s interim report, issued earlier this semester, recommended a formalized articulation of Haverford’s values. Drawing from their deep learnings–and coupled with distinctions around what it means to be part of a community of scholars–we have developed a set of core values that define the type of campus culture that we collectively aspire to uphold.

Interim Policy on Expressive Freedom and Responsibility

The safety and well-being of the Haverford community are my highest priority. We have implemented many policy changes over the last few years as part of our ongoing efforts to foster a campus environment in which all students, faculty, and staff can participate fully in the life of the College. Community feedback gathered by the Ad Hoc Committee is clear – we can and must do even more to bring greater clarity to our policies, including expressive freedom and responsibilities around time, place, and manner of expression. With this feedback in mind, we have developed an interim revision to the Policy on Expressive Freedom and Responsibility to better articulate the College’s commitments and each community member’s rights and responsibilities.

Anti-Doxxing Policy

Doxxing is a form of intimidation that can seek to silence the expression of individuals. Our community has not been immune to this issue. Creating a College-level anti-doxxing policy helps to elevate this issue and strengthen our measures to protect all members of our community from having personal information shared by others with the intent or knowledge that it may be used to intimidate, threaten, or cause harm. This policy is effective immediately.

Related, you should have received an email from IITS last week regarding changes to how identifying information is shared on the College’s website, including moving the directory behind a login page. These changes are all part of efforts to keep our community safe from online harassment.

Institutional Policy on Civil Rights Protections and Anti-Bias Standards

The Institutional Policy on Civil Rights Protections and Anti-Bias Standards (previously titled Anti-Discrimination, Harassment, and Bias Policy) advances our goal of maintaining an environment free of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. This policy has been subject to broad consideration and refinement for over a year and will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Social Media Policy

Updates to the Social Media Policy provide additional guidance for College and personal accounts. The College does not seek to limit personal use of social media by students, faculty, or staff; however, it is important to note that Haverfordians speak for themselves only and are responsible for their own speech. These updates will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Honor Code

Our student-led Honor Code is foundational to Haverford’s approach to the student experience. And, as is the case with all our institutional policies, the Honor Code exists within, and must comply with, federal and state legal frameworks. In order to address some misalignments between the Code and the current legal landscape, effective May 20, the College will enact a revised Honor Code temporarily. This action is being done in consultation with the Honor Council co-chairs and Students’ Council co-presidents. Students will hear more from Honor Council about working together as a student body to revise the Honor Code and bring forth any new, student-led changes at a Special Plenary this fall in order to permanently address these misalignments while maintaining the integrity, purpose, and spirit of the Code.

Related Updates

As we continue to monitor and respond to a changing federal landscape, I wanted to provide two additional updates. Earlier this month, the College signed on to the Presidents’ Alliance amicus brief in support of a motion filed on April 1, enjoining the administration’s policy of revoking the visas of and arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty exercising their free speech and association rights. This week, the College was one of nearly 300 institutions that signed a letter calling for constructive engagement between higher education and the current administration.

Community Feedback

I appreciate the thoughtful input from students, faculty, staff, and alums that has helped to propel many of these policy changes forward. I also recognize that releasing interim policies and a draft core values statement is just the first step.

My Senior Staff colleagues and I will continue to solicit feedback on the interim Policy on Expressive Freedom and Responsibility policy, as well as the Core Values through May 31, via an anonymous Qualtrics form. Over the summer, we will continue to work with community members to further refine these documents. Early in the fall we will host listening sessions to gain any additional feedback before adopting final versions of these documents.

Of course, even with ‘final’ policies in place, we are confident that together we will continue to learn from experiences, and that these policies and others must remain living documents in order to help our community meet both new and continuing challenges in the years ahead.

Sincerely,

Wendy

Wendy Raymond
President