FIRE ranks NU very low (238 / 251) on free speech. Harvard is last. The Ivies and other academic elites generally rank low in the FIRE rankings.
NU ranks very low on tolerance of conservative viewpoints. For example, on May 2, 2023, the Northwestern University College Republicans hosted political commentator James Lindsay on campus. The day after, Northwestern’s student government voted to freeze funding for the group, including funding needed to pay for the security for the event, in reaction to flyers promoting Lindsay’s appearance, which the student government claimed violated Northwestern’s policy prohibiting discrimination and harassment. Irony.
So NU can only get better.
This part caught my attention:
"Dialogue is not domination or denigration. Shutting down or shouting down a speaker with whom one disagrees not only demonstrates a refusal to listen but also prevents others from doing so."
This admission seems to be a step in the right direction. Cancelling people with dumb opinions is stupid.
As far as taking a public political stance, this became a "thing" as faculty have morphed from researcher - teachers to activists. My personal belief is that this strays from the central mission of pretty much any university. It is one thing to teach your students how to evaluate a policy position (and its alternatives), communicate it, defend it, and work to advance it. It is another thing for the institution itself to take an active role in pushing students to advocate for specific policies on campus to support faculty aims.
As many schools (and commercial enterprises) have found out, taking a stance on a controversial issue is not always beneficial. I never understood why higher education and corporations felt so compelled to get involved in these issues at an institutional level.
University of Chicago has done a great job of staying above the fray. Not perfect, but they have always kept their mission intact.
