Yale becomes latest university to adopt institutional neutrality policy

Yale University has become the latest school to adopt institutional neutrality, meaning that the Ivy League university’s leaders won’t comment on potentially controversial hot-button issues “except in rare cases.”

The announcement came Wednesday from Yale President Maurie McInnis, who wrote of his decision to accept the Committee on Institutional Voice’s recommendation that the school adopt institutional neutrality. 

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Specifically, the Committee writes that Yale’s leaders “should refrain from issuing statements concerning matters of public, social, or political significance, except in rare cases.” McInnis notes, citing the Committee report, that leaders can only speak on such issues when they “directly implicate the university’s core mission, values, functions, or interests,” or if it becomes necessary to “express empathy” on issues related to the Yale community. 

Though the new policy applies to the university leaders–including to “leaders speaking on behalf of other units of the university”-it does not restrict what students and professors can say. 

Leaders can still speak in cases in which they have “expertise on topics that are of public interest,” but they must “note that the expressed opinion is based on their expertise and that they are not speaking in their official capacity.”

McInnis stated that the new policy “will strengthen Yale’s ability to uphold and defend academic freedom and the academic enterprise.”

Several other universities have adopted institutional neutrality policies in recent months, including the Universities of Michigan, Washington State, Pennsylvania, and Harvard. 

Two Yale professors, Law Professor Amy Kapczynski and American Studies Professor Daniel HoSang, attacked institutional neutrality in a Tuesday op-ed, alleging that “narrowing the use of institutional voice” will “chill speech.” The two professors were also outraged over what they saw as “profound attacks” on the “teaching of critical race theory and gender studies” in higher education. 

In response to a Campus Reform request for comment, a Yale spokesperson shared an op-ed written by the co-chairs of the Committee on Institutional Voice, discussing the committee’s findings. “We do not believe a magic formula exists that University leaders can apply when deciding whether and when to employ institutional voice. Instead, they must exercise good judgment in the form of practical intelligence, wisdom, or discernment . . . We have offered some presumptions and guidelines, grounded in core University values, to which leaders should refer when exercising this judgment,” they concluded.

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McInnis’s decision comes after a turbulent period for Yale in which anti-Israel activists disrupted life at the campus. 

In April, anti-Israel activists tried to take over the school after being inspired by Columbia University’s tent encampment. Hundreds of students were involved in Yale’s own tent encampment, and at least 40 were arrested for their disorderly conduct after they refused to listen to repeated police warnings. 

Activists at Yale’s campus also called for an “open Intifada,” meaning a violent uprising against Jewish Israelis. 

Campus Reform has reached out to Yale University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.