University of Nebraska leaders — including Ted Carter, NU president, and the four chancellors in the university's system — issued a statement in support of academic freedom in a July 21 email.

The message, available here and below, is in response to a resolution regarding critical race theory that NU Regent Jim Pillen intends to place on the agenda for the Aug. 13 Board of Regents meeting. That agenda will be finalized on Aug. 6.

The statement was signed by Carter and chancellors Ronnie Green (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), Jeffrey Gold (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Doug Kristensen (University of Nebraska at Kearney) and Joanne Li (University of Nebraska at Omaha).

Our classrooms are meant to be places of learning, discovery, exploration and debate. Racism is an ugly truth in America - and we cannot and should not shy away from openly discussing it. https://t.co/O389Ge2p5Q

— Ronnie D. Green (@RonnieDGreen) July 21, 2021

Similar responses from University of Nebraska–Lincoln groups have recently been issued by the Faculty Senate's Executive Committee and Husker student-athlete leaders.

FULL STATEMENT FROM NU LEADERS

In defense of academic freedom at the University of Nebraska

To the Faculty, Staff and Students of the University of Nebraska:

Recently there has been a great deal of conversation across our campuses about academic freedom and its importance to our university. Today we issue the following unified statement in defense of freedom of expression for all members of the University of Nebraska community:

The free and open pursuit of ideas is a cherished principle in higher education, and its preservation is vital for any great university. As our policies and practices make clear, the University of Nebraska is strongly committed to academic freedom. We support and defend the liberties our teachers and learners have to freely discuss ideas in and outside of the classroom.

Our central mission is to educate Nebraska’s future leaders, and in preparing students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens, our instructors expose them to any number of concepts and ideas. Issues around race, equity and the fight against racism are an important part of our country’s story and they have an appropriate place in our classrooms. Our policies guard against the introduction of matters that are irrelevant to the subject at hand. We further expect and believe that in discussing ideas, our instructors make their classrooms places of robust and open debate, where all viewpoints are considered and all may express their opinions freely. That commitment to free expression is at the heart of our work as an institution of higher learning.

Regent Jim Pillen has notified us that he intends to place a resolution regarding critical race theory on the agenda for the August 13 Board of Regents meeting. The meeting agenda will be finalized on August 6. As we have shared with Regent Pillen, we have significant concerns about the resolution and how it would be interpreted by the faculty, staff and students we hope to recruit and retain. We will continue to work together and with the Board to vigorously protect and defend academic freedom at the University of Nebraska.

Thank you for all that you do for our university.

Ted Carter
President, University of Nebraska System

Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Ronnie D. Green, Ph.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Doug Kristensen, J.D.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Joanne Li, Ph.D., C.F.A.
Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Omaha