Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

Free Speech Working Group Charge, Membership Announced

Monday, October 28, 2019, By News Staff
Share
Chancellor Kent SyverudUniversity Senate

During last month’s University Senate meeting, Chancellor Kent Syverud urged the campus community to consider how the University can promote free speech—including the provocative, uncomfortable and controversial—while maintaining a respectful learning environment. As a follow up to those remarks, Chancellor Syverud today announced the members of the newly formed Free Speech Working Group, as well as the group’s charge.

“Each of our faculty members—and each of our students—needs in the pursuit of knowledge to be able to say things and write things that can be troubling, provocative and at times makes many of the rest of us profoundly uncomfortable. Our students and faculty need to be protected in doing this from retribution except in very limited circumstances,” Chancellor Syverud said in remarks to the University Senate Sept. 18. “If we really want to protect our faculty and students in their free speech and in their pursuit of knowledge, we cannot silence people who express uncomfortable views.”

The Free Speech Working Group is charged with reviewing policies governing free speech and civil discourse at the University and suggesting revisions to further enhance a culture of open dialogue and diversity of thought on campus. It will be co-chaired by Steven Bennett, senior vice president for academic operations, and Amy Falkner, interim dean of the Newhouse School. The members of the working group are:

  • David Edelstein, Board of Trustees representative
  • Mackenzie Ess, graduate student representative
  • Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech and associate professor of magazine, news and digital journalism in the Newhouse School
  • Marcelle Haddix, chair of reading and language arts and Dean’s Professor, School of Education
  • Lujane Juburi, undergraduate student representative
  • Natalie Maier, Student Bar Association representative
  • Bobby Maldonaldo, chief of the Department of Public Safety
  • Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history in the Maxwell School
  • Reinaldo Pascual, Board of Trustees representative
  • Richard Thompson, Board of Trustees representative
  • Marianne Thomson, associate vice president for student experience and dean of students

Ex officio members of the working group include Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience; Dan French, senior vice president and general counsel; and Candace Campbell Jackson, senior vice president and chief of staff.

As part of Chancellor Syverud’s charge, the group’s review of policies should assure the right to free speech and provide parameters to help secure that right. It should also address the behaviors that provide barriers to a person’s access to free speech and outline how the University should respond to such an incident or behavior. The group is expected to deliver interim recommendations to Chancellor Syverud in January 2020 and final recommendations by May 2020.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • SCOTUS Win for Combat Veterans Backed by Syracuse Law Clinic
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Syracuse Views Summer 2025
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By News Staff
  • Tiffany Xu Named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2025-26
    Friday, June 20, 2025, By Julie Sharkey
  • Registration Open for Esports Campus Takeover Hosted by University and Gen.G
    Thursday, June 19, 2025, By Matt Michael
  • 2 Whitman Students Earn Prestigious AWESOME Scholarship
    Tuesday, June 17, 2025, By News Staff

More In Campus & Community

Jorge Morales ’26 Named a 2025 Beinecke Scholar

Jorge Morales ’26, a double major in history and anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with a minor in English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the highly competitive…

Registration Open for Esports Campus Takeover Hosted by University and Gen.G

Syracuse University and global esports and gaming organization Gen.G have opened general registration at campustakeover.gg for its first Campus Takeover Sept. 20-21. The two-day conference will bring students and administrators to Syracuse to highlight career opportunities within the esports industry…

2 Whitman Students Earn Prestigious AWESOME Scholarship

For the first time in the 12-year history of the program, both nominees from the Whitman School of Management have been selected as recipients of the 2025 AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship, a prestigious honor awarded to top-performing undergraduate women…

Whitman’s Johan Wiklund Named a Top Scholar Globally for Business Research Publications

The Whitman School of Management’s Distinguished Professor Johan Wiklund was recently listed as one of the most prolific business and economic research scholars globally, according to “What We Know About the Science of Science in Business and Economics? Insights From…

Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore ’26 Receives Prestigious Udall Scholarship

Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore, a rising senior communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and political science major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences (with a…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.