Civil Discourse Requires Commitment and Action

In January, Furman University hosted several speakers to educate and enlighten our community on topics related to black history. At our Martin Luther King Community Breakfast, NPR’s TV critic Eric Deggans helped us understand nuance in media messages and how they exclude or create bias against people of color.

In February, through our Tocqueville Center for the Study of Democracy and Society, four well-known Republican scholars, authors, and commentators, including New York Times columnist David Brooks, presented “2024: Conservatism in America.”

Hearing varied informed perspectives is educational. Our student body is diverse, from across the country and from other countries. The students’s family incomes run the gamut. They’re religious, agnostic, political and apolitical, and they have a variety of sexual identities. They’ll graduate into a diverse world where corporations are more profitable, nonprofit organizations are more effective and graduate schools are more informed when they have a multitude of perspectives working for them.

Undoubtedly, our students and alumni will encounter people with whom they disagree. “On Discourse,” an initiative we launched in the fall, will help students learn how to engage in uncomfortable conversations with people of different opinions constructively and respectfully. “On Discourse” fosters curiosity, not judgement. It encourages students to identify commonalities. It teaches skills and imbues confidence and courage, all important elements students can use when they’re hesitant to engage when their views are in the minority.

Our commitment to free inquiry and to welcoming varied voices has long been articulated in our values statement. However, universities around the country, including Furman, have been criticized, fairly or not, for limiting free speech or for tolerating only certain perspectives. As “On Discourse” took shape, it became clear that we needed a statement articulating our priorities and responsibilities.

With our Statement on Freedom of Inquiry and Expression, which we made public Feb. 21, Furman affirms its long-standing commitment to the principles of free expression and academic freedom. The statement clearly and definitively expresses Furman’s steadfast resolve to ensuring an environment in which diverse views and perspectives can be heard without interference.

An overwhelming majority of our faculty voted to endorse the statement, and our Board of Trustees approved in unanimously.

Freedom of expression, of course, does not license anyone to say anything they want in any manner they choose. We must follow the law and existing university policies and regulations. We must also conduct ourselves with decency and respect. Healthy dialogue requires free expression, but it also requires members of the community to treat everyone with dignity.

In the face of extremely challenging times, Furman students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends have conducted themselves admirably. We want students to speak up and speak out, and we want faculty to explore and teach difficult topics. We will continue hosting and creating events, like our MLK Community Breakfast and Tocqueville Center lecture series, and our Statement on Freedom of Inquiry and Expression is the rock in our foundation up on which discourse, and progress, will be built.

Our statement is not a pledge of perfection. We are likely to fall short on occasion, but we will continue to support each other as we grow in our ability to engage in healthy dialogue.

“On Discourse” and the Statement on Freedom of Inquiry and Expression are the right things, and the smart things, to do. The world into which our students  graduate is larger than any single place, party, or ideology. It’s a world of myriad colors, which is not only more appealing, but essential.

 

Written by Elizabeth Davis, Furman University President.