Academic leaders at Johns Hopkins University announced Thursday that from now on they will exercise a “posture of restraint” when issuing public statements on human rights violations, acts of discrimination, military conflicts, natural disasters and more, according to a public letter signed by President Ron Daniels and other top administrators.
The letter says that the university’s leaders will make institutional statements only in “the limited circumstances where an issue is clearly related to a direct, concrete, and demonstrable interest or function of the university.”
The goal is to avoid taking institution-level stances that may interfere with the university’s commitment to upholding academic freedom and fostering a diversity of perspectives.
“The university is the site, more than any other institution in our society, where the process of truth-seeking through intense and open contestation is given pride of place,” the leaders wrote. “Although institutional statements may feel warranted, consoling, or, at times, even necessary to guide the university through difficult moments, experience has shown that they can be counterproductive, and even at odds with our core mission.”
The decision comes in the wake of campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump and other events that have sparked debate over when college leaders should speak out, including the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action and George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.
