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About

What We Are

CAFH is a Harvard-wide faculty-led group dedicated to the promotion of academic freedom, civil discourse, and viewpoint diversity at Harvard. It was founded in April 2023, and now has 200 members (active, emeritus and former faculty) drawn from all of Harvard’s schools. It is currently administratively situated within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and is led by an executive council of seven elected faculty co-presidents and a part time executive director. CAFH members are politically diverse, and we expect that the Council will evolve as the internal and external environments change along with its membership.

Our Mission

The “Free Speech Guidelines” adopted by the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1990 begin by declaring, “Free speech is uniquely important to the University because we are a community committed to reason and rational discourse. Free interchange of ideas is vital for our primary function of discovering and disseminating ideas through research, teaching, and learning.”

The Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard is committed to the following three principles:

  1. Free Inquiry. The Council advocates for academic freedom in teaching, research, and speech for members of the Harvard community.
  2. Intellectual Diversity. The members of the council believe that Harvard should promote the thoughtful engagement of students and scholars who represent a broad range of opinions.
  3. Civil Discourse. The Council encourages respectful, honest, and courageous discussion of controversial ideas in and outside of the classroom.

CAFH Governance

Governance Policies

What We Do

CAFH maintains a website and an unmoderated listserv available to members on which wide-ranging discussions take place related—to a greater or lesser extent—to academic freedom. Members participate to various degrees, with overall activity varying markedly in response to external events. Many viewpoints are expressed, and we are aware of no other such cross-school faculty discussion group.

CAFH sponsors public events that explore theoretical and practical issues surrounding its mission of academic freedom, civil discourse, and viewpoint diversity.

CAFH governance permits statements to be made if approved by two thirds of the voting members. Because of the diversity of viewpoints on many issues, our desire to avoid statements that fail to represent consensus, and the fact that public statements often create polarization and defensiveness, few official statements have been issued so far.

Instead, CAFH has tried to exert an influence through other means. Discussion at CAFH meetings suggested that the co-presidents and/or ad hoc coalitions of the willing should discreetly work behind the scenes to express the Council’s concerns on issues such as institutional neutrality, required DEI statements in hiring, and the treatment of student protesters. We periodically convey these views (in all their diversity) to deans, the provost, the President, and members of the Corporation.  

From time to time faculty have presented accounts to one or more of the Co-Presidents of claimed mistreatment by school officials that might represent violations of their academic freedom. In several cases informal fact-gathering led to confidential communication with responsible officials, requesting more information or corrective action.

(We note that not every issue brought to the Executive Committee’s attention, often through the CAFH listserv, results in actions such as resolutions or letters of concern. In some cases there are doubts as to whether an incident involves principles of academic freedom, whether it is relevant to Harvard, or whether enough facts are known to warrant further action.)

CAFH collaborates with The Crimson opinion editors to solicit articles by CAFH members on diverse topics related to academic freedom, sometimes in opposing pairs. These are identified as written by CAFH members and thereby expose our members views to a larger audience.

CAFH has plans to establish working groups of members to address specific issues related to academic freedom. These groups will gather data, explore the issues and prepare reports for internal discussion and possible votes of support by members.

Because the academic freedom of students is another vital issue at Harvard, which is distinct from (and can even compete with) the academic freedom of professors, CAFH has worked with a group of Harvard College undergraduates to advise and cooperate with a sister organization, Harvard Undergraduates for Academic Freedom.

The Council is one of the largest faculty groups in the world focusing on issues of academic freedom and diversity. CAFH consults with faculty from other universities on the formation of similar groups on their campuses. Such groups have now been formed at Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, U of Toronto, U of London, Princeton and MIT.

What we have done

With 200 members, the Council enables the largest faculty discussion on academic freedom at Harvard. Among the accomplishments of the CAFH that are more or less on the record are these: 

  • The Council was formally consulted on the “Institutional Voice Policy” (Harvard’s version of the principle known elsewhere as institutional neutrality), and several members were crucial to the formation and adoption of the policy.
  • Council leadership was asked to assist in drafting and implementing the policy changes on Institutional Neutrality and Diversity Statements at Harvard College. The conveying of the case against mandatory “diversity statements” in faculty hiring in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences was soon followed by the rescinding of this requirement.
  • In September, 2024, members and Co-Presidents of the Council conveyed to President Garber the case for and against different possible policies on politically and morally motivated divestment of the university endowment, and how they might impinge on academic freedom.
  • During the 2023 – 2024 year, the Council helped launch faculty Councils at Columbia, Berkeley, MIT, and Yale (notwithstanding other universities in past years). 
  • In the 2023 – 2024 academic year, the new undergraduate club Harvard Undergraduates for Academic Freedom was formed with the guidance of the Council. 
  • Council members were consulted on several task forces including the task force on Anti-semitism. 
  • Council leadership circulated a memo to University Leadership on endowment management, specifically related to different approaches to ethical investment and divesting. 
  • The Council drafted and passed a pivotal statement titled “Freedoms of the University.” 
  • Council leadership sent several letters in response to perceived violations of Academic Freedom around the university including: The cancellation of Harvard Law Review article written by Rabea Eghbariah – Shouting down of an event at the Harvard Kennedy School with Professor Meghan O’Sullivan – The disruption of a faculty and first year student dinner by Palestinian activists – Pressure on the university to remove Prof. Derek Penslar from his role as Co-Chair of the Task Force on Antisemitism because of statements he had made or signed critical of Israel – Congressional subpoenas of Harvard in the investigation of antisemitism which posed the threat of targeting protected speech and activities by faculty and students – The punishment of students in 2024 who had organized a non-disruptive anti-Israel protest in Widener Library – Remarks by President Alan Garber expressing his disapproval of a Palestinian Solidarity Committee statement, which, despite his disclaimers, could be seen as violating the university’s new Institutional Voice policy.
  • Much of the Council’s most influential work was done behind the scenes. The Council met with several Deans at the University and with the last two Presidents of Harvard. 
  • Council leadership and selected members consulted with several Harvard faculty members who were concerned about, or threatened by, actions adverse to their academic freedom in their respective departments. 
  • In addition to Council Member’s work published in various journals, newspapers, magazines, and blogs, the Council facilitated publication of 6 pairs of dueling op-eds in the Crimson increasing awareness of issues and visibility of the Council at Harvard. 
  • The Council has hosted several public events including: a lecture on distinct meanings of academic freedom by Professor Ned Hall with a response from CAFH member Professor Danielle Allen, a highly influential panel of scholars convened at the Radcliffe Institute on Institutional Neutrality, a public lecture from Johns Hopkins Professor Steven Teles with commentary from Jennifer Hochschild, Louis Menand, and Ned Hall, and a public discussion with Cass Sunstein on his book Campus Free Speech: a pocket guide.