UT-Austin's Next Leader Must Be A Proven Champion For Free Speech

AFSA's Texas affiliate spells out its top job requirements for Longhorn Nation's next president

Any search for a new university president must begin with some serious soul-searching, argues a must-read piece in this weekend’s Austin American Statesman, since the search for a suitable leader is also a search for someone who will embody and uphold the school’s highest aspirations and ideals.

The list of job requirements for a modern university president is long and daunting; he or she must be a diplomat, politician, fundraiser, lobbyist, example-setter, beancounter, cat-herder, and perhaps even an accomplished scholar. But a president’s personal values also matter, writes Clark Patterson of the UT-Austin Open Discourse Coalition, and no candidate for the job should be considered who isn’t a proven champion for certain key academic principles.

“The upcoming selection of the 31st president of the University of Texas at Austin provides an opportunity for Longhorn Nation to re-commit itself to the core values of open inquiry, civil discourse, free speech, and institutional neutrality,” wrote Patterson. “Students, teachers, donors, and alumni can help ensure that the school’s next president champions those core values by becoming active participants in the presidential selection and hiring process. “

The current free speech climate on campus is a mixed bag, reports Patterson. It’s not all bad, but there are problems that the school’s next president must be prepared to confront if UT-Austin is to uphold the aims and ideals expressed in its motto, Disciplina praesidium civitatis — “A cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.”

“If UT wishes to live up to its tradition of cultivating minds, Longhorn Nation must re-commit itself to becoming a genuine free marketplace of ideas, a place which honors complete intellectual freedom and free expression for all students and faculty. And a proven commitment to these core principles must top the list of qualifications that the university’s next president brings to the job.”

Read Patterson’s piece in its entirety here.

Click here to visit and subscribe to the UT-Austin Open Discourse Coalition substack page.