The statement below was adopted by the Senate Assembly on June 18, 1990.
The University of Michigan is a community devoted
to learning. Members of our community advance, preserve, and transmit
knowledge through study, teaching, artistic expression, research,
and scholarship. As a public university, we have a special obligation
to serve the public interest.
All who join the University community gain important
rights and privileges and accept equally important responsibilities.
We believe in free expression, free inquiry, intellectual honesty,
and respect for the rights and dignity of others. We respect the autonomy
of each person’s conscience in matters of conviction, religious
faith, and political belief. We affirm the importance of maintaining
high standards of academic and professional integrity. In defining
the rights we enjoy and the responsibilities we bear, we must keep
those basic principles in mind.
All members of the University have civil rights guaranteed
by the Bill of Rights. Because the search for knowledge is our most
fundamental purpose, the University has an especially strong commitment
to preserve and protect freedom of thought and expression. Reasoned
dissent plays a vital role in the search for truth; and academic freedom,
including the right to express unpopular views, is a cherished tradition
of universities everywhere. All members of the University have the
right to express their own views and hear the views of others expressed,
but they must also take responsibility for according the same rights
to others. We seek a University whose members may express themselves
vigorously while protecting and respecting the rights of others to
learn, to do research, and to carry out the essential functions of
the University free from interference or obstruction.
