Berkeley Report Says Trusting Campus Climate ‘Vital’ to University’s Mission

Going forward, the task force urges Berkeley officials to be candid about why they make specific judgment calls about political speech on campus.

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A faculty task force at the University of California, Berkeley, determined that—in addition to policies protecting free speech and academic freedom—a campus climate “characterized by trust and good faith” is essential to achieving the university’s core mission, according to a report released Thursday.

The task force convened a year ago to examine “whether existing policies and conceptual frameworks in higher education are sufficient to address the emerging dilemmas at UC Berkeley or if new approaches are needed for the changing political context,” the report states. Berkeley has seen its fair share of recent political controversies. In just the past year, the university was at the center of an investigation into alleged antisemitism on campus, student protesters were charged with vandalism, a lecturer was suspended for making pro-Palestine comments during class and the university removed political artwork from the Multicultural Community Center, among other events. 

An ideal campus climate is one in which students and employees have “confidence that each member of the campus community will follow through with what they have agreed to do and/or what is expected of them, that they will advance the collective interests of the university, and that they will treat others with dignity, honesty, and fairness even in the face of disagreement,” the report states. This is important because the formal rules that protect academic freedom “may do little work in practice” if faculty members are not confident that administrators will protect them, the task force argues. The same is true for students relying on officials to apply free speech policies equally. 

Going forward, the task force urged Berkeley officials to be candid about why they make specific judgment calls about political speech on campus. They also suggest that the university issue statements emphasizing its values and policies “when invited speakers make incendiary and derogatory claims about members of the campus community.” 

“Policy documents focused on free speech often demand civility and respect from members of the campus community when controversial speakers are invited to campuses. But speakers themselves do not always adhere to the norms of civility and respect,” the task force wrote.

In a statement, the campus administration said they appreciate the task force's interest in free speech, academic freedom and campus climate issues and "look forward to continued collaboration" with the Academic Senate.

"UC Berkeley doesn’t just support Free Speech and engagement with the issues of the day, we encourage it," administrators wrote. "When speaking for themselves, members of our community have every right to have their voices heard in support of the causes they believe in, and so this campus must and always will take a viewpoint-neutral approach when it comes to supporting freedom of speech and academic freedom."

(12:30 p.m. Aug. 21: Updated to add a statement from the university.)