Wake Forest’s Statement on Free Expression and Academic Freedom

The decision to draft a shared University statement on free expression and academic freedom was an important step, creating the opportunity to draft, discuss, and refine a new statement as a diverse and engaged campus community.

The University’s Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom was adopted by the Board of Trustees on April 25, 2025, following a broad community process.

• Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom [April 25, 2025].

Process

When it comes to free expression, the process is as important as the result. Below please find information about the unique campus effort to draft, review, and embrace this new statement, including comprehensive responses from the drafting task force to feedback gathered from across the community.

Campus Discussions

Beginning with Founders Day (Feb 20, 2025), when Dean of the Law School Andrew Klein spoke about free expression and academic freedom, there was a period for campus conversations about the statement and the underlying concepts of freedom of expression and academic freedom. The CAT resources below continue to be a great tool for discussions about free expression and academic freedom topics. The Drafting Team also released a “Preamble & Notes” document to help members of the community jump into the debate and understand decisions behind the document.

• Preamble and Notes to the Draft Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom [Feb 6, 2025; because this document was part of the community process, it is now for internal viewing only].
• Discussion Pre-Reads and Facilitator Materials: “Exploring Free Expression & Academic Freedom” [Feb 17, 2025; this approachable and detailed resource was prepared by and is hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching]

Feedback on the Draft Statement

The draft statement was just that: a draft. We needed a starting place for community conversation about what free expression and academic freedom mean at Wake Forest. The drafting team performed careful research and made thoughtful and frequently subtle decisions, which they contextualized in a document guide.

Along with that reflective work, community feedback was used to improve the final draft. Anyone in the community, with particular invitation to people who took part in a group conversation about the draft statement, was invited to complete a form to submit feedback, which was tracked and considered by the drafting team.

• Draft Statement Community Feedback Responses [Apr 21, 2025; because this document was part of the community process, it is now for internal viewing only]

Timeline Overview

• Initial Drafting (July–September 2024). The Provost appointed a group of faculty and staff to review earlier research about free expression at Wake Forest and across higher education and to draft a new, shared statement of free expression and academic freedom that will articulate a clear university standard rooted in Wake Forest’s honorable tradition and culture of free expression. This group will publish a draft statement and then conduct a “notice and comment” process to review and incorporate feedback from across the community.
• Leadership Briefings (September–October 2024). In the early stages of campus discussion of the new draft statement, members of the drafting team will meet with campus leadership groups, including the Provost’s Student Leadership Advisory Group, Staff Advisory Council, Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Student Government, and the Deans Council. These briefings will provide an opportunity for early feedback, but also expand the number of people who have had a chance to carefully review and lead conversations about the draft statement.
• Campus Conversations (February–March 2025). Leveraging great experiences with the Call to Conversation series and the long history of formal and informal debate at Wake Forest, student, staff, and faculty groups (e.g. a college department, a sorority, or a staff affinity group) will host discussions about the draft statement to share ideas and then report feedback. Some of these conversations will take place in existing groups, while others will bring together Wake Forest community members from an array of backgrounds in the spirit of the valuable civil discourse that the free expression statement is meant to encourage and protect.
• Board of Trustees Review (April 2025). Wake Forest’s governing board will review the draft statement in April for adoption as policy of the Board. It is distinctive and meaningful that the Trustees have asked the administration to conduct the thorough and inclusive process outlined here prior to their approval: this statement is intended to be the work of the current campus community of Wake Forest University.

Drafting Team

• Matthew Clifford, Dean of Students
• Mary Crosby, Associate Counsel
• John Dinan, Professor of Politics & International Affairs
• Simeon Ilesanmi, University Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies
• Sam Perrotta (committee staff), Chief of Staff, Office of the Provost
• Matthew Phillips (chair), Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Teaching Professor of Business Law & Ethics
• Lauren Reid, Associate Professor of Accountancy, Lambert Family Accounting Fellow, and Faculty Senate Executive Committee
• Margaret Taylor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law