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The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has released “A Call for Constructive Engagement” in response to the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” according to a press release.
At the time the call was released, it had been signed by 150 leaders of colleges and universities across the country. By the end of the business day, 100 more signatures had been added.
To date, leaders in North Carolina at Davidson College, Duke University, and Warren Wilson College have signed the statement, which the organization says “emerged from convenings of leaders organized by AAC&U and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to take stock of the current situation and deliberate on possibilities for a unified defense of learning and higher education.”
Additional signatories continue to be added.
It marks, says the press release, the first time current presidents have spoken out collectively in large numbers about these issues.
“We speak with one voice,” says the statement.
The statement says:
As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.
America’s system of higher learning is as varied as the goals and dreams of the students it serves. It includes research universities and community colleges; comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges; public institutions and private ones; freestanding and multi-site campuses. Some institutions are designed for all students, and others are dedicated to serving particular groups. Yet, American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.
Because of these freedoms, American institutions of higher learning are essential to American prosperity and serve as productive partners with government in promoting the common good. Colleges and universities are engines of opportunity and mobility, anchor institutions that contribute to economic and cultural vitality regionally and in our local communities. They foster creativity and innovation, provide human resources to meet the fast-changing demands of our dynamic workforce, and are themselves major employers. They nurture the scholarly pursuits that ensure America’s leadership in research, and many provide healthcare and other essential services. Most fundamentally, America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy.
The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society. On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.
The press release says “any unraveling of the longstanding, productive partnership between government and institutions of higher learning” will impact both higher education and America’s shared prosperity.
“One of the greatest strengths of American higher education is the diversity of institutional types, anchored in a common commitment to serving the public good,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella.
If you are a current president and want to add your name, here is more information.
