The Kalven Report And The Limits Of University Neutrality
Michael T. Nietzel | 26 December 2023 | Forbes
The campus of the University of Chicago, where the frequently cited Kalven Report on the ... [+]GETTY
Amid all the campus turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, university leaders have repeatedly come under fire for saying too much or saying too little about the war, for not forcefully enough addressing problems of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, and for failing to speak with “moral clarity.”
In response, many institutions have justified their position by referencing the Kalven Report, a 1967 University of Chicago document, written when student protests against the Vietnam War were taking place on almost every American campus and when the University of Chicago’s investment policies were under fire. The report recommended the university, in order to not inhibit the academic freedom and “full freedom of dissent” on which it thrives, should remain neutral on important social and political issues.