Whereas “intellectual pluralism and academic freedom are central principles of American higher education.”*
Whereas the freedom to learn is inseparable from the freedom to teach,
Whereas the future of American democracy is predicated upon an educated citizenry that is capable of critical reasoning and independent thinking,
Whereas the American Association of University Professors’ canonical 1915 Declaration on the Principles of Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure emphasizes that professors must present not only their own beliefs on controversial questions but must “set forth justly, without suppression or innuendo, the divergent opinions of other investigators,”
Whereas in far too many courses and disciplines, students are presented with ready-made conclusions on controversial topics,
We hereby affirm:
The right of all students to be presented in class with dissenting sources and viewpoints on controversial issues,
The right of all students to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion,
The obligation of instructors to require dissenting texts on controversial subjects and to avoid making their classrooms and reading assignments instruments of indoctrination.
*Statement of the American Council on Education, June 23, 2005
(* indicates required)