Saying All the Right Things at Stanford
Inspiring Rhetoric Matters, But The True Test Comes When The Rubber Meets the Road
Stanford President Jonathan Levin’s inaugural address struck most of the right notes. Much of it, indeed, came as music to our ears.
Here, for instance, was a passage that strongly resonated:
Our North Star is our fundamental purpose of discovery and learning. We exist as a university to create and share knowledge, and to prepare students to be curious, to think critically, to flourish, and to contribute to the world. This purpose, both simple and profound, gives us a distinctive role in society.
Discovery and learning require fresh ideas, open discussion, sometimes sharp disagreement. It is no accident that Stanford’s first president chose as our motto: “The wind of freedom blows.”
When our former President Gerhard Casper arrived at Stanford, he was so struck by our motto that he dedicated his inaugural address to explaining its origin, and relating it to the freedoms of the university.
These include the freedom of faculty and students to pursue knowledge without constraints; the freedom to challenge orthodoxy, whether old or new; and the freedom to think and speak openly.
These freedoms nurture the conditions for discovery and learning.
These freedoms also provide a guide when it comes to navigating many of the contentious issues we face today.
To be clear, we want Stanford’s students and faculty to engage with the world. We expect them to wrestle with social and political issues. We hope that they will have an influence on the direction of society, pursue public service, and tackle the pressing challenges of our time.
Yet the university’s purpose is not political action or social justice. It is to create an environment in which learning thrives. As Harry Kalven memorably put it, the university’s obligation in challenging times is “to provide a forum for the most searching and candid discussion of public issues.”
This is what we should strive for today: to foster searching discussion, to listen with curiosity, and to ensure the freedom of members of the university to study and learn.
Levin also described “openness” as the school’s defining value. An openness to talent and ideas from around the world. An openness to new ways of thinking. Stanford is open, said Levin, to “people from around the world, from an array of backgrounds, with the widest range of interests, aspirations, values, and beliefs.”
Yet what we’ve seen in recent times, both at Stanford and other schools, is a growing trend not toward openness but toward closedness — an impulse to exclude, shun, marginalize, and even “cancel” voices and views that are out of step or favor with the dominant mindset on campus. The range of “interests, aspirations, values and beliefs” most undergrads are exposed to on campus hasn’t been widening; it’s been narrowing. And how Levin and other top school administrators correct those pernicious trends remains to be seen.
AFSA found a lot to like in what Levin said. We’ve seen or read equally hopeful pronouncements from other academic leaders as the new school year begins. But we also understand — cliche alert!! — that actions speak louder than words. And we’ll be watching closely, at Stanford and other schools, to see how the soaring rhetoric jibes with reality when the rubber meets the road.
Wanna stay abreast of what’s happening in Palo Alto on issues like free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity? Then you need to bookmark this website — https://www.stanfordfreespeech.org — and subscribe to the Stanford Alumni For Free Speech and Critical Thinking’s excellent and informative newsletter.
A video of Levin’s address can be found on You Tube: