Our Position

A university should not tell its community what to think.

UCIFI believes in institutional neutrality in the university. That is to say, we believe that campus departments or university leaders should not take positions on political issues that do not directly affect the core missions of the university.

Department chairs, deans, chancellors, and other leaders are often pressured to take positions on the issues of the day as a way of showing solidarity with student sentiment, furthering the policy goals of faculty, or demonstrating the moral values of the university.

But these actions inevitably chill speech, since they imply that dissenting views are unacceptable and “against” the university. They also tend to be counterproductive, since they undermine the credibility of universities as institutions devoted to open inquiry, truth-seeking, and academic freedom—not places that seek to become active players in politics.

UCIFI is working to secure the adoption of institutional-neutrality principles at UC campuses across the system.