Last school year, American colleges and universities found themselves embroiled in contentious debates about the war between Israel and Hamas. Protests roiled campuses from coast to coast. Encampments arose, buildings were occupied, classes were moved. Some peaceful demonstrations became volatile, and members of campus communities felt threatened or intimidated.
This year must be different.
As a university chancellor, I can’t affect the course of the war in Gaza or redress its tragic impacts. What I and my campus counterparts can do is create conditions for thoughtful debate.
We can model active listening. We can insist on principled argument. We can strike a balance between supporting free expression and protecting our communities.
Summer provided a temporary respite, but the U.S. presidential election and escalating hostilities in the Middle East are keeping societal passions at a boil. Within this context, colleges and universities must ensure that teaching, research and scholarship can proceed in a framework of physical safety and respect.
The lessons of last school year were forged in a crucible of duress. This year, decisions must be made deliberately and with conviction. And although every campus community has distinct cultural needs and considerations, I believe we would all benefit from reemphasizing a few important principles.
First, free expression is foundational to education — and has limits. Free speech and healthy debate are cornerstones in the search for truth. Peaceful protest can be a powerful means of expressing a point of view. But behavior or speech that threatens, intimidates, harasses, discriminates or unreasonably disrupts teaching and learning cannot be tolerated. Whether speech or actions cross that line must be discerned carefully and on an absolutely content-neutral basis.
Second, a university campus is no place for a tent city. Last school year, nearly 150 campuses in the U.S. saw the emergence of protest encampments and associated demonstrations. Such ongoing assemblies and makeshift structures impede passage to classes, labs and offices and raise public health concerns. Protesters, whether affiliated with our institutions or not, cannot occupy campus buildings or damage property. Students and employees have a right to cross our campuses to their classrooms and worksites without intimidation or undue obstruction.
Third, although we must not act rashly, we also cannot be passive. We cannot tolerate anyone — within or outside of our campus communities — violating our policies, creating chaos or instilling fear in those we serve. Individuals found to have done so should face appropriate consequences under established policies and applicable laws. We have an obligation to our entire community — students, faculty and staff, as well as patients in our hospitals and children in our campus schools — to ensure that our campus is safe and that our work in support of our mission continues.
Some may view such measures as suppressing free expression. To the contrary, these are the steps we must take to create the conditions that will allow us to focus on the final and most important principle: that we must close the distance through discussion and dialogue. We must welcome all voices to the table, grounded by frameworks for how to discuss, debate and even argue about important topics with civility and respect. Closing distance is the very essence of higher education. Enforcing speech and demonstration policies is vital to maintaining an environment where civil discourse can thrive.
The truths of our world are far more complex than any one individual can know in full. Our knowledge is deepened by every encounter with someone whose life experience is different from our own. In my role as a university chancellor, I’m called to uphold conditions of community life in which every member has the right to speak and, concurrently, the right to learn without intimidation.
Now more than ever, colleges and universities must be places that close distance — not where rifts become wider and problems more intractable.
Andrew D. Martin is chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, where he also is a professor of political science, law, statistics and data science