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To learn more about the current debate around viewpoint diversity in academia, explore the list of resources below. Inclusion on this list does not indicate UNE’s complete agreement with the views stated by any listed entity. Part of the point of having a Marketplace of Ideas is that you are encouraged to investigate, assess, and draw your own conclusions.

Universities as the Marketplace of Ideas

President James Herbert speaks at the TEDxDirigo conference held at the University of 51С�Ƴ� in 2018.

Dating its origins to the end of World War I, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of the oldest and best-known defenders of Constitutional rights in the U.S. Their statement “Speech on Campus” says, “An open society depends on liberal education, and the whole enterprise of liberal education is founded on the principle of free speech.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) was established in 1999 by University of Pennsylvania professor Alan Charles Kors and Boston civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate “to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities.”

The Heterodox Academy is a non-profit coalition of more than 5,000 professors and others seeking to increase the diversity of political views at institutions of higher education. Their widely circulated list of values, called “The HxA Way,” includes exhortations to “Make your case with evidence, be intellectually charitable,” and “be intellectually humble.”

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is an alliance of more than 50 national non-profits, engaged in direct advocacy and education to support First Amendment principles for over 40 years. Their “Resources for Higher Education” page states, “Freedom of expression is crucial to maintaining a healthy democracy and ensuring that institutions of higher education serve to educate citizens equipped to think critically, analytically and persuasively.”

Founded by several prominent writers in 1922, PEN America is an organization that stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. Their “Campus Free Speech Guide” offers advice on free speech and inclusion on U.S. college campuses, with general principles that include, “Campuses can and must fulfill their dual obligation to both protect free speech and advance diversity and inclusion.”

Known as “The Chicago Statement,” the Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression produced at the University of Chicago in 2014 is a highly influential articulation of academic free speech values, formally adopted or endorsed by faculty bodies at over 80 institutions, including Princeton, Columbia, and the UMaine system. It states, in part, “[W]ithout a vibrant commitment to free and open inquiry, a university ceases to be a university.”

UNE’s own librarians maintain a section of the library website that provides frequently updated resources on viewpoint diversity, especially related to conducting research and evaluating and incorporating multiple sources.