President Stoltzfus joins 91 college presidents in upholding free speech on campus

Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus is joining 91 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country in the consortium College Presidents for Civic Preparedness to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and upholding free expression on campus.

Through the consortium, which is designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, participating presidents are dedicated to preparing the next generation of well-informed, productively engaged and committed citizens; defending free expression, civil discourse and critical inquiry as essential civic norms; and increasing thoughtful engagement and better understanding by students for the effective functioning of our democracy. The consortium was first announced with 15 members in August 2023 and has grown significantly since then.

Participating presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments:

• Educating for democracy is central to our mission.
• We will prepare our students for a vibrant, diverse and contentious society.
• We will protect and defend free inquiry.

Taken together, these fresh commitments embrace both free speech and diversity, two values often pitted against each other, by instead emphasizing meaningful engagement and inquiry with different voices and viewpoints. The commitments stress diversity as a strength of both American democracy and campus life and affirm the truth-seeking role of higher education through curiosity and inquiry. They also enable campus leaders to take substantive action to promote democratic engagement among students, with public accountability for progress through the publication of an annual impact report.

A complete listing of specific programming appears on the consortium website. In addition to championing these commitments at GC, Stoltzfus will join the other presidents to undertake a set of collective actions:

• Meet regularly and confidentially for peer learning and the exchange of information, ideas, practices, and tools, including on such topics as the 2024 elections and student activism;
• Help faculty engage effectively with free expression and civil discourse in the classroom by participating in the Faculty Institute on Dialogue Across Difference; and
• Create and seize opportunities for shared advocacy and public outreach on civic preparedness in higher education.

Stoltzfus joined the consortium simultaneously with 23 other college presidents, including the presidents of Davidson University, Haverford College, Lewis & Clark University and Xavier University. The full list can be found here.