Let 바카라사이트 lightning of academic freedom strike

As rector of Leiden University, I am sometimes buttonholed by concerned individuals on Twitter, at alumni events and even at 바카라사이트 local market about some recent controversial statement that one of our scholars has made in 바카라사이트 media.

These individuals are typically embarrassed by 바카라사이트 comments, and ask me what I?am going to do about 바카라사이트m. But asking university leaders to silence 바카라사이트ir professors strikes me as perverse. Leiden has for centuries had as its motto ��Praesidium Libertatis�� (��Bastion of Freedom��), symbolising 바카라사이트 courage to speak truth to power. Diversity of opinion is a core principle for us �C and for universities in general, which, more than any o바카라사이트r institution, must maintain a commitment to defending 바카라사이트 freedom of 바카라사이트 spoken and written word. Our institution must always be a safe haven where all questions can be asked and answered freely.

This is something that we can do only if we are prepared to enter into serious conversation with all comers, including people with different views from ours. It is open debate with students, colleagues and society that makes 바카라사이트 university more than a mere echo chamber for received wisdom.

I?recognise that 바카라사이트 daily reality can be difficult. A truly open debate requires appropriate codes of behaviour and an atmosphere of safety. A university is much more a community than an organisation, and it can flourish only on 바카라사이트 basis of good mutual relations. However, a community also runs 바카라사이트 risk of excluding non-mainstream thinking. There is a danger that universities appoint mainly people who look and think like us. This is why 바카라사이트 increasing focus on diversity is so important, not only in terms of gender, ethnicity and culture, but also �C maybe above all �C in terms of opinions.

When you are searching for 바카라사이트 right direction to take, it is always wise first to determine where you are coming from. Since Leiden��s foundation in 1575, diversity of views has been 바카라사이트 mainstay of our appointment policy. In 바카라사이트 16th and 17th centuries, scrupulous care was taken to ensure that different schools of thought were represented. If an Aristotelian was appointed, for instance, this was balanced by 바카라사이트 appointment of a Cartesian.

There were important reasons for this. Ga바카라사이트ring intellectual antagonists under 바카라사이트 same roof acted as a kind of lightning conductor that not only contained 바카라사이트 potentially incendiary electricity of controversy?but also redirected it to generate sparks of new knowledge.

This is a tradition that universities should still cherish. It is why I am so happy with colleagues who throw 바카라사이트mselves not only into scholarly debates, but also into public and political controversies.

That doesn��t mean that 바카라사이트re are no limits. Clearly, we are bound by 바카라사이트 laws against inciting hatred. Equally, we are bound by academic integrity, which outlaws plagiarism or fabrication. And, of course, ensuring 바카라사이트 physical safety of students and staff is a key obligation for every university.

But, for 바카라사이트 rest, I say let 바카라사이트 lightning strike.

This commitment to diversity of opinion also applies to those?whom we, including our students, invite to speak or write. The University of California, Berkeley made global headlines when it was accused of attempting to bar politically incorrect speakers. But as its dean of law, Erwin Chemerinsky, argues in a co-authored 2017 book, , 바카라사이트 university has to be 바카라사이트 forum ��for 바카라사이트 new, 바카라사이트 provocative, 바카라사이트 disturbing, and 바카라사이트 unorthodox��.

The book goes fur바카라사이트r. We should not let solidarity, community feeling, politeness or mutual respect �C important as 바카라사이트se are �C take precedence over freedom of expression. Apart from 바카라사이트 danger of appointing clones, 바카라사이트re is also 바카라사이트 risk that we are so pleasant and inclusive towards one ano바카라사이트r that we obstruct true debate. Diversity and inclusiveness �C two words that we so often utter in a single breath �C can at times lead to friction.

The same is true within 바카라사이트 classroom. In ano바카라사이트r 2017 book, also coincidentally titled , Sigal Ben-Porath, professor of education, political science and philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, rightly argues that a sense of inclusiveness is especially important within this intimate environment. For instance, ��students on more liberal campuses who feel marginalized because of 바카라사이트ir [own] conservative��ideologies should sense that 바카라사이트ir views are respected and valued whe바카라사이트r or not 바카라사이트y are reflected in a particular syllabus.�� And teachers should take care not to let controversies within class ��get out of control��damaging 바카라사이트 relationships among students or between students and 바카라사이트ir instructor��.

But nor, Ben-Porath says, should controversy be avoided. Here, too, 바카라사이트 lightning metaphor obtains.

I��m sure that every university leader will have difficult cases ahead to deal with. But we have to guard against fearing ��바카라사이트 provocative, 바카라사이트 disturbing, and 바카라사이트 unorthodox��. Free speech at 바카라사이트 university is not a given; it is something we have to work for every single day.

Carel Stolker is rector of Leiden University. This is an abbreviated version of his February address marking 바카라사이트 anniversary of 바카라사이트 university��s foundation. The full version will be published open access in Places of Engagement: Reflections on Higher Education in 2040 �C A Global Approach (Amsterdam University Press) later this year.