Letter to Members from MFSA President Wayne Stargardt '74

Letter to Members from MFSA President Wayne Stargardt '74

• MFSA held its second annual conference
  We held our second annual conference near MIT on the Thursday immediately preceding the Alumni Leadership Conference (ALC). The theme of the conference revolved around how MIT is Turning the Tide in favor of academic freedom and freedom of expression. Harvard’s Steven Pinker provided the keynote presentation. There were panel sessions involving MIT faculty, students, staff, and, for the first time, a representative of the MIT administration – all discussing efforts by different parts of MIT to repair our culture for open inquiry. A panel of senior administrators and trustees made insightful suggestions about what works to preserve a free speech culture on their own campuses. Videos of all panels are available on MFSA’s YouTube channel. MIT President Sally Kornbluth visited the conference as well, and took in Professor Pinker’s keynote. The success of our second conference built on and exceeded that of our inaugural conference in 2023, and plans are underway to hold our third such conference at MIT this fall.
   
• MFSA co-sponsored yet another successful debate on campus
  Continuing our tradition, we co-sponsored a debate over whether the projected benefits of global decarbonization are worth the costs. The affirmative team was led by senior professors from MIT, and the negative team included former Under Secretary of Science, Steven Koonin. As with our previous debates, the recordings on our YouTube channel continue to be visited afterwards by people looking for informed, civil discussions of controversial topics.
   
• The MIT faculty formed their own, independent free speech organization
  A core set of MIT faculty formed the MIT Council for Academic Freedom (MITCAF) in October. This group is modeled after the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard and is similar to independent faculty groups at Yale and other universities. Already more than  50 faculty members have joined MITCAF from across MIT’s many disciplines. MFSA stated at midyear that the formation of such a faculty group was an objective, and our volunteers worked behind the scenes to encourage it. Many of MITCAF’s members, we’re also happy to note, are faculty that MFSA has built productive relationships with, and several of them have participated in our programming. While we cannot take credit for the faculty finally organizing, we certainly applaud it.
   
• MFSA protested the banning of a student publication
  MIT banned the distribution of an issue of a student publication based on an article inside titled “On Pacifism.” MFSA published a statement in the MFSA Commentary section on our website stating that this action violated the letter and the spirit of the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and did not follow any explicit public MIT policies restricting student and organization actions. Our statement cites other parties that either supported or protested this action. We continue to encourage MIT to eschew content-based censorship, which this action appears to be.
   
• MFSA continued to bring informative speakers to our quarterly membership meetings
  Ever since our founding, starting in the first quarter of 2022, MFSA has held quarterly virtual meetings for our members that start with presentations by guest speakers. Guest speakers at past meetings have included MIT President Sally Kornbluth, FIRE president Greg Lukianoff, Heterodox Academy president John Tomasi, and US Representative Thomas Massie ’93, SM ’96. In the second half of 2024 our guest speakers were professors Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago and Daniel Bonevac of the University of Texas, who explained the legal and philosophical foundations for free speech. Videos of our member meetings are available in the Members section of our website.
   
• Alumni increased their financial support for MFSA
  MIT alumni endorsed both our mission and actions by increasing their financial support for our organization. Donations to MFSA in 2024 were the highest level ever. Our year-end matching donation campaign set our highest goal ever – and cleared it with room to spare. Moreover, 36% of our donors last year were first-time donors to MFSA. Alumni generosity is what enables us to continue advocating to restore MIT’s culture for open inquiry and academic freedom, and we thank all members who supported us in 2024.

• Encourage MIT to adopt our priority recommendations
  Last year we presented MIT with our comprehensive recommendations to strengthen freedom of expression and academic freedom, and to reduce the widespread self-censorship on campus. We will continue to advocate that MIT adopt these changes, particularly our priority recommendations, which are:
   
  • Adopt institutional neutrality
    In 2024 a growing number of universities, including Harvard, adopted policies to stop making institutional statements about public issues that have nothing to do with the essential operation of the university. These other universities acknowledged the University of Chicago’s Kalven Report, which asserts that such virtue signaling statements, pandering to the interests of a subset of the university community, unavoidably suppresses the speech of the rest of the community that may hold different views. Similar to other universities, MIT should adopt a policy of institutional neutrality, not because it is the trend, but because it is right.
     
  • Stop administrative policing of protected speech
    MIT still accepts complaints, including anonymous submissions, about individuals who express viewpoints that are nominally protected under the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression. Such complaints are solicited, not just accepted, by the Institute Discrimination and Harassment Response Office (IDHR) and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS). Complaints automatically create entries in student and employee records without adjudication. The continued existence of this process suppresses the willingness of the MIT community to express their viewpoints and to engage in the discussion, debate and counter speech that an active intellectual environment requires.
     
  • Establish a permanent organization to support freedom of expression
    This recommendation, which originated with the Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of Expression, remains an important step to improve freedom of expression at MIT. The Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression (CAFCE) has been performing this role effectively, but it is an ad hoc committee that was intended to conclude at the end of 2024. The need for an organization performing this role is on-going, and MIT should create a permanent solution.
     
  • Explain MIT’s free speech values and policies to students
    MIT needs to state its free speech culture to students and instruct them on its policies around freedom of expression and academic freedom. This instruction is particularly needed for first year undergraduates to align them with MIT’s values and to help them assimilate into the MIT community.
     
  • Align administrative staff on the importance of free expression and viewpoint diversity in MIT’s culture.
    MIT’s administrative and support staff, who at roughly 8,000 employees vastly outnumber faculty and instructors, are not grounded ing MIT’s culture, and particularly the importance of academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and freedom of expression to the advancement of scientific knowledge. Many members of this administrative staff do not have a background in STEM disciplines, are not knowledgeable about the scientific method, and are not familiar with MIT’s culture. But they participate in that culture and influence it. The administrative staff needs to be included in efforts to educate the MIT community on MIT’s values and its support for freedom of expression in the pursuit of knowledge.
     
• Continue supporting the MIT faculty’s advocacy for free speech
  Polling data continue to indicate that many MIT faculty fear retaliation for expressing their viewpoints and practice self-censorship as their defense. Courageous and principled members of the faculty are working to overcome this fear and self-censorship. Both the MIT Council on Academic Freedom (MITCAF) and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression (CAFCE) are faculty-led groups with this mission. MFSA will continue to backstop their defense of the faculty’s intellectual and academic freedom, as well as provide financial and logistical support for their efforts.
   
• Continue promoting free speech among MIT students
  Beyond just learning about MIT’s free speech policies and student rights to freedom of expression, MFSA encourages MIT students to practice these values. We do this by supporting both student-led initiatives, such as the MIT Open Discourse Society (MODS), and MIT curricula promoting the open exchange of ideas, such as the Concourse program. We provide financial and logistical support for these initiatives in addition to encouragement and suggestions. We plan to expand our engagement in 2025.
   
• Continue holding events on campus that promote free speech
  MFSA co-sponsors debates on campus that model civil discourse over contentious topics and that expand the Overton window of subjects that can be discussed at the Institute. MFSA also holds an annual conference to explore different approaches to restoring freedom of expression, academic freedom, and tolerance for diverse viewpoints at MIT. We will continue these successful programs in 2025. In the coming year, we also intend to co-sponsor presentations by speakers who will increase viewpoint diversity and dialogue at MIT. As an example of the latter, we are co-sponsoring a presentation by heterodox author Musa al-Gharbi on February 20^th.
   
• Increase MFSA’s national visibility and reputation
  ​MFSA has become one of the leading members of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance for our success in promoting freedom of expression on our campus. While significant self-censorship continues at MIT, we have helped the Institute improve its culture, its policies, and its practices to support free speech. We plan to increase the visibility of MIT’s progress and MFSA’s contribution at various conferences and meetings. As examples, we presented at the recent Censorship in the Sciences Conference at USC, and we are sponsoring a panel of MIT faculty at the Heterodox Academy conference this summer.