{"id":947,"date":"2025-04-22T04:36:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T04:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/senate-assembly-talks-recent-motions-academic-freedom\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T04:37:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T04:37:01","slug":"senate-assembly-talks-recent-motions-academic-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/senate-assembly-talks-recent-motions-academic-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Assembly talks recent motions, academic freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/facultysenate.umich.edu\/senate-assembly\/#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20Michigan%20Senate,the%20University%20of%20Michigan%20system.\"> University of Michigan Senate Assembly<\/a> met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Monday afternoon to discuss Faculty Senate motions and voice concerns about the University\u2019s revocation of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. They also discussed the broader role of academic freedom amid growing federal<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/education\/2025\/04\/19\/harvard-trump-administration-higher-education-battle\/83140651007\/\"> pressure<\/a>, which has included revoking research funding to higher education institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rebekah Modrak, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs opened the meeting and invited Assembly members to suggest ways the University administration could respond to the four motions<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/news-briefs\/faculty-senate-votes-to-join-big-ten-mutual-defense-compact\/\"> passed<\/a> after a recent special Faculty Senate<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/academics\/faculty-senate-considers-big-ten-anti-trump-defense-compact-dei-and-international-student-protections\/\"> meeting<\/a>. The motions called for the University to<a href=\"https:\/\/facultysenate.umich.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/U-M-Motion-to-establish-alliance.pdf\"> join<\/a> a mutual academic defense compact with members of the<a href=\"https:\/\/btaa.org\/\"> Big Ten Academic Alliance<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/facultysenate.umich.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/BTAA-resolution.pdf\"> affirm<\/a> the core values of higher education,<a href=\"https:\/\/facultysenate.umich.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DEI-Resolution.pdf\"> reinstate<\/a> DEI programs and<a href=\"https:\/\/facultysenate.umich.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Resolution-Urging-the-University-of-Michigan-to-Protect-International-Students-Faculty-and-Staff-from-Unwarranted-Detention.pdf\"> protect<\/a> the campus community from unwarranted detention by U.S.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.gov\/\"> Immigrations and Customs Enforcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Assembly member Joshua Hausman, associate professor of public policy and economics, said he wants the University to support academic freedom, but is concerned that strongly defending DEI initiatives might make the University a target for President Donald Trump\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/administration\/\"> administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspect that the Trump administration would be very happy if they can brand the University of Michigan as resisting demands because of our commitment to begin on as opposed to because of our commitments to (DEI) as opposed to our commitment to academic freedom,\u201d Hausman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Assembly member Jason Young, associate professor of history, responded to Hausman by saying he feels DEI and academic freedom are not mutually exclusive and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/news-briefs\/umich-announces-cuts-to-all-dei-programs\/\">cutting<\/a> DEI programs might not guarantee protection from future federal<a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/government\/politics-elections\/2025\/04\/18\/what-know-about-trumps-funding-threats-colleges\"> threats<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we were engaged in a transactional relationship with the federal administration in which we agreed to remove all public references to DEI in exchange for academic freedom, freedom of speech and secure federal funding \u2014 I think I\u2019d be willing to consider that transaction,\u201d Young said. \u201cBut it seems to me that we\u2019re not engaged in a kind of rational, transactional relationship and whether or not and to what extent we find ourselves on the chopping block doesn\u2019t really have anything with what we do or don\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Assembly member Vilma Mesa, professor of education and mathematics, said the third motion, which calls for the reinstatement of legally-compliant DEI initiatives, passed with the lowest approval percentage of the four. Mesa said the result likely reflects dissatisfaction within the faculty regarding how the University previously executed its DEI programsI.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think the faculty are opposed on principle or morally \u2014 however you want to label it \u2014 about (DEI),\u201d Mesa said. \u201cBut the issue of how it was implemented is a problem. I think a way to move forward is showing that we may have made mistakes in the implementation. I feel like the problem goes beyond just saying \u2018the Trump administration is wrong.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lucas McCarthy, director of Faculty Senate Office, then introduced Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College and director of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaup.org\/programs\/academic-freedom\/center-defense-academic-freedom\"> Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom<\/a> to discuss the center\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaup.org\/programs\/academic-freedom\/center-defense-academic-freedom\/academic-freedom-syllabus\"> Academic Freedom Syllabus<\/a> project. Kamola said the module that aims to help participants understand academic freedom could make the concept more accessible.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201c(The syllabus) could be used in a graduate seminar, a professional development session, first-year faculty orientation or even in undergraduate courses with some editing,\u201d Kamola said. \u201cThe idea is to offer something adaptable \u2014 something that meets faculty and students where they are \u2014 and helps spark meaningful conversation about what academic freedom actually means.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following Kamola\u2019s comments, the Assembly met in small groups to compare the purpose of academic freedom, as defined in<a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/344\/183\/\"> Wieman v. Updegraff<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaup.org\/NR\/rdonlyres\/A6520A9D-0A9A-47B3-B550-C006B5B224E7\/0\/1915Declaration.pdf\"> 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure<\/a>\u00a0 to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/first_amendment#:~:text=The%20First%20Amendment%20guarantees%20freedoms,restricting%20an%20individual's%20religious%20practices.\"> First Amendment<\/a>. After a 20-minute discussion, the Assembly reconvened and heard from representatives from each group. Assembly member Simon Cushing, associate professor of philosophy at U-M Flint, said his group concluded that academic freedom benefits not only academics, but the general public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe experience (academic freedom) being infringed as an intrusion on us and it stops us investigating what we think is of value,\u201d Cushing said. \u201cBut if someone who is not an expert in the field that we\u2019re interested in tries to judge what is of value and what we should be investigating, then this is presumably bad for possible audiences who could be the beneficiary of our investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCarthy concluded the discussion, saying while everyone should be free to express their views, it\u2019s equally important to respect the authority of expertise and evidence-based knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFreedom of speech is what everybody should be able to pursue, but there are points in academic work where there are particular truths \u2014 truths established through evidence and repeated discussions among experts,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cSometimes bringing those truths to students and the world might be seen as \u2018slanted\u2019 or \u2018not neutral,\u2019 but the truth isn\u2019t always going to align with public opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><em>Daily News Editor Edith Pendell can be reached at ependell@umich.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Michigan Senate Assembly met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Monday afternoon to discuss Faculty Senate motions and voice concerns about the University\u2019s revocation of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. They also discussed the broader role of academic freedom amid growing federal pressure, which has included revoking research funding to higher education [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1057,657,1058,1056,656,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-academic","9":"tag-assembly","10":"tag-freedom","11":"tag-motions","12":"tag-senate","13":"tag-talks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}