RESOLUTION

Passed by the Executive Council of the Rutgers Council of AAUP Chapters, September 18, 2003

 I: The Executive Council of the Rutgers Council of AAUP Chapters (American Association of University Professors) reaffirms the position its Steering Committee took on July 16, 2003 in support of those who defend the mission of the University in promoting the free exchange of ideas and discourse on a variety of issues, including those that are controversial.

II: We commend to the attention of the University and wider communities the following passage from the national AAUP's Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students*:

"Students should be allowed to invite and to hear any person of their own choosing. Those routine procedures required by an institution before a guest speaker is invited to appear on campus should be designed only to ensure that there is orderly scheduling of facilities and adequate preparation for the event, and that the occasion is conducted in a manner appropriate to an academic community. The institutional control of campus facilities should not be used as a device of censorship. It should be made clear to the academic and larger community that sponsorship of guest speakers does not necessarily imply approval or endorsement of the views expressed, either by the sponsoring group or by the institution.9"

 

Resolution of Steering Committee adopted on July 16, 2003:

In May of 2003, the Rutgers Council of AAUP Chapters (American Association of University Professors) welcomed President Richard L. McCormick "home" to Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, saying, in part, "As you begin your presidency, we congratulate you for your courageous and forthright statements to the University community in defense of freedom of expression, open dialogue, and dissent--all issues related to academic freedom." In the current controversy over the Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, President McCormick has continued to articulate and defend the mission of the University as promoting the free exchange of ideas and discourse on a variety of issues, including those that are controversial. We commend him for the principled and consistent position he has taken on behalf of the University and fully support his commitment to the protection of academic freedom, even though, as he states, he finds "abhorrent some elements of NJ Solidarity's mission."

In supporting President McCormick's position that the conference be allowed to be held at Rutgers, the AAUP does not endorse the political positions advocated by the conference organizers or attendees. We join with President McCormick, Professor Frank Askin and our other colleagues at the Rutgers School of Law--Newark in encouraging students, faculty and others who oppose some or all of the views of New Jersey Solidarity to express their own opinions in a public and constructive manner.

_____________________________

* Formulated by a committee composed of representatives of the AAUP, the United States Student Association, the American of American Colleges and Universities, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and the National Association for Women in Education and subsequently endorsed by each of the associations and five additional associations. (AAUP Policy Documents and Reports, Ninth Edition, pp 261-267)

9 The events referred to in this section should be understood to include the full range of student-sponsored activities, such as films, exhibitions, and performances.