In UNB’s Strategic Vision, UNB Toward 2030, we commit to creating more inclusive learning environments and to supporting our students, and our entire community, in an environment in which they truly feel they belong. The Strategic Vision calls on UNB to embrace our motto, Sapere Aude, and show the courage to ask big questions, push the limits of knowledge and engage in debate. Universities thrive when they foster an environment that protects the freedom of expression for all – when all members of its community feel supported and able to study, research and work without fear of judgement or reprisal. It is in this context that UNB embraces the concepts of institutional political neutrality and institutional autonomy.
On May 31, 2024, a statement was shared publicly clarifying UNB’s position on institutional advocacy and statements related to geopolitics. This statement re-affirmed UNB’s commitment to freedom of expression and underlined two key, institutional principles that support our commitment: institutional autonomy and political neutrality.
Institutional political neutrality means that as a university we refrain from taking public positions on political issues. Our embrace of public positions should relate to our core institutional values and to issues that are directly related to the core mission and functioning of the university: teaching, research, engagement and service.
UNB is not a political entity. We are a university, founded on the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge, and the exchange and debate of ideas. We support, and have the responsibility to foster, a community where a diversity of ideas and views can be shared, discussed, debated and challenged freely and openly.
As identified in the Kalven Committee’s Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action (1967), ”(t)he university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic.”
It is of vital importance that UNB protects our ability to pursue our mission in adherence with our internal processes and core accountabilities. Institutional autonomy allows us to push boundaries and make institutional decisions that are in the best interest of UNB under the UNB Act and without undue influence from external bodies. As an institution, we will protect our ability to choose our academic partners and have autonomy over our investment portfolio. We embrace first principles regarding acting in the fundamental best interest of the university and in line with the UNB Act. We do not sway from these commitments based upon public advocacy and special interest groups.
The principles of political neutrality and institutional autonomy support the protection of freedom of expression at UNB. It is not the role of UNB to stifle debate or to contribute to the creation of an atmosphere that discourages the free expression of ideas and viewpoints. The institution is not political, but that in no way impedes the expression of its students and faculty – it encourages an environment where this expression can flourish.
Freedom of expression, while encouraged, is not absolute. Activities that disrupt the university or hinder its ability to pursue its mission, such as the disruption of classes or of free movement around our campuses, or that threaten the safety of our students, faculty and staff, do not fall under the purview of free expression. Freedom of expression has limits under the Criminal Code.
In an increasingly polarized world, university campuses can play an important role as the venue of debate and discussion, where people are open to exchange ideas, challenge concepts and change their minds.
UNB is not alone in embracing the concepts of political neutrality and institutional autonomy. In Canada, Laurentian University adopted a formal policy on institutional neutrality in December of last year. Other universities across the country have issued statements positioning their institution as politically neutral, including Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Island University, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, and McGill University. In the United States, policies or statements of institutional neutrality have been adopted by dozens of institutions, including Barnard, Emerson, Ohio State, Purdue, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, John Hopkins, and more.
UNB recognizes that speaking with an institutional voice on political issues may have an unintentional chilling effect on speech, discourage curiosity and hinder the free exchange of ideas. It can falsely imply a consensus of opinion and undermine the diversity of our community. From this perspective, institutional political neutrality and autonomy best position university leaders to support our entire community and the diversity of viewpoints that make it possible for individual members to push forward knowledge and understanding.
