By Jim Eltringham and Ben Wetmore.

Established in 1979, the Leadership Institute seeks to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists across the country. To do that, LI identifies, recruits, trains, and places conservatives in government, politics, and the media, enrolling more than 74,000 students in its unique programs since its inception. The Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation.

The Institute’s Campus Leadership Program is designed to assist conservative students in their campus activism. Its national field program identifies and recruits conservative students on college campuses and helps them organize independent conservative clubs and newspapers.

While the national field program works to help students develop conservative groups, each group is independent and directs its own day-to-day operations and decision-making. LI’s Campus Leadership Program is not a membership organization, but maintains a correspondence relationship with established conservative groups. The Leadership Institute will offer advice, support, and guidance to those student groups that request assistance.

Ben Wetmore was the Director of Student Publications for the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program. He helped campus conservatives to launch their own independent newspapers, starting a record 44 new publications in 2005. While a student, Wetmore faced off against administrators at American University; he had a run-in with campus security and the college administration when he attempted to videotape a public speech. He is currently the Director of Outreach at Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Jim Eltringham is the former Deputy Director of the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program. He assisted students who organized independent conservative groups on their campuses. Eltringham is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, where he served as editor-in-chief of the conservative newspaper, The Minuteman. He has appeared on national television and radio as a spokesperson for the campus conservative movement. Eltringham currently works as a Client Services Manager at Crosslink Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C. grassroots public affairs firm.

INTRODUCTION_________________________________________

Solely because of your political views, you’re wearing a target on your back.

You didn’t ask for it.  But the more effective you are as a conservative activist on campus, the bigger and bolder that target becomes.

Conservatives everywhere are challenging the left-wing control of America’s colleges and universities.  Students from across the country have founded over 1,000 currently active independent conservative groups and publications through the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program.

But even as the campus conservative movement grows, the self-anointed “champions of tolerance” in the campus left will not give up without a fight. And that’s a fight you may find yourself in the middle of -– just because you expressed your conservative views.

The left wants to shut you up.

It probably won’t be direct censorship – your administration may be too slick for that. If you debut a conservative newspaper, for example, they may suddenly find arcane rules about distribution. They may claim your paper must be submitted for prior approval by some campus bureaucrat. If you host a conservative speaker, they may impose security fees so burdensome as to make the event impossible.

If you hold an affirmative action bake sale to protest the administration’s racist admissions policy, they may relegate you to a “Free Speech Zone” in a dark corner of the campus.

In some cases, though, it could be much worse.

When Steve Bierfeldt of Siena College in upstate New York decided to voice his opinion about gay marriage and related issues, he did so by posting Bible verses on campus. It seemed a mild protest -– especially at a Catholic college.

The administration disagreed.

When a student complained that the posting was offensive, administrators suspended Steve –- banning him from campus until the student who filed the complaint graduated or left.

All for the crime of putting up Bible verses on a Catholic campus.

Steve’s story is far from unique. Each year, the Campus Leadership Program receives dozens of reports of campus conservatives subjected to leftist abuses and bias on campus. And those figures don’t even include the conservatives who never say anything because they don’t know how to fight back.

Who could blame them for keeping quiet? After all, the administration runs the campus. The left dominates the faculty. To most students, it seems like a fight they are destined to lose.

But if you play your cards right, you can fight back successfully.  This booklet will show you how.

I. General Principles_____________________________________

Fighting back against the leftists controlling the administration and culture of your campus will require a plan. As you map out your defense, keep in mind three important principles:

1. Take the fight off-campus

You may win your conflict by staying only on campus, but the entire environment is uniquely hostile to you. Consider the willing ears just past the campus gate:

• allies in the conservative movement
• local citizens
• media looking for local controversy
• alumni interested in their alma mater
• conservative elected officials

Take the fight off campus, enlist the assistance of sympathetic members of the community, and only fight on terms you can win. If you stay on campus, you’ll be more likely to fight against leftist campus bureaucrats, administrators, and student panels who will most assuredly do all in their power to muzzle and punish you. 

They have no desire to show mercy, and they almost never do.  Even your fellow students on judicial panels will likely buckle under the enormous pressure to “teach conservatives a lesson.”

Pick your judges and your battleground. Find people who will be naturally accepting and amenable to your arguments.

You have to take your fight off-campus to do this.

2. Stay on offense:  Expand the conflict.

When you lose any battle, simply regroup and engage again.  Continuing the conflict elsewhere is not losing.

If you lose in student government, expand the fight to include the campus administration. If you lose there, go to the media.  Inform the alumni or sympathetic legislators. The fight isn’t over until you win.

You can’t lose if you don’t ever acknowledge defeat.

3. Identify the antagonist

It does not help if you rail solely against the concept of a monolithic “liberal faculty” or promote theories about a vast left-wing conspiracy.  After all, there are many liberal professors who are excellent and well-liked teachers, and nearly every student will have some leftist friends. Your charges may fall on deaf ears.

Alienating the campus community by railing against too large a target is a tactical mistake. Instead, choose your battle. Identify the weakest enemy. Focus your attack there.

It makes no sense to fight the faculty, or needlessly lambaste liberal student groups when the entrenched institution of liberalism on most campuses is the administrators. The ones bringing you up on charges, defending your group, and exerting the real power on campus are usually the ones most people forget about: administrators.

Many faculty members resent the administrators for regulating their university, and students resent administrators for increased tuition or other reasons.

II. Launching Your Defense______________________________

This is where many campus conservatives begin to feel overwhelmed, confused, and intimidated. When you face an administration which seems to hold all the cards, you might feel like your head is spinning as you try to figure out what to do next.

Think in terms of three separate strategies: legal, media, and political.

Legal

If you go to a state college or university, you may easily be able to enforce the school’s required commitment to your First Amendment rights.  As an agent of the state government, the school’s administration must uphold the free speech guarantees in the United States Constitution and any similar rights established in your state constitution.

Private schools are not mandated to follow the First Amendment. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck: Chances are your school lures prospective students with promises of an “open flow of ideas” and “free discussion.” If the school’s code of conduct is enforced differently, that may be a case of fraud.

Sanctions arising from university judicial proceedings can include fines, time-consuming “community service,” suspension, and even expulsion -– all of which affect, to varying extents, your ability to pursue a degree. (And, as the college is quick to tell applicants, your degree supposedly helps your financial well-being after college.)

Be prepared to fight back in a court of law if you are not successful in the university’s judicial system. Collect all the evidence you can and meticulously document everything relevant throughout the conflict. Be a pack-rat for all documents relating to your situation, and print out all electronic documents to keep a hard copy.

You aren’t alone in your legal fight. The first place to turn is the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE (www.thefire.org). Over the past few years, FIRE has become expert at recognizing violations of liberty on campus and ending the abuses -– either by alerting campus officials of the violations or by activating their pro-bono legal network.

Other groups which might help you are the Alliance Defense Fund, American Center for Law and Justice, Center for Individual Rights, The Institute for Justice, and Judicial Watch. All of these groups offer free help. Click here for a more complete listing.

Media

As the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

You can’t rely on legal maneuvering alone as you fight back against your administration – after all, your school will be better funded and better equipped than your student group in any legal fight. But you will have the moral high ground in the court of public opinion, so fight also in other venues.

One way to generate public support is by taking your story to the media.  News releases and personal contacts with people in print, online, and broadcast media can produce quick and powerful results for you. Provide solid facts, and don’t exaggerate.

By covering your story, the media puts public pressure on your campus administrators to answer for their actions. While they can act as judge, jury, and executioner within the walls of their offices and conference rooms, your school’s administrators know the public eye can hold them accountable.

Political

More people than you think care about what goes on at your campus, which is good news for you.

All schools, not just private schools, rely on alumni and other donors for support. Public schools also need the support of the state legislature, the governor, and taxpayers.

Read through the alumni literature your school puts out. Chances are you won’t find much talk about multiculturalism, diversity, or any of the other buzzwords the left likes to toss around on campus. There’s a reason for that: Alumni donors wouldn’t like it.

Neither would the state legislators who vote on funding for public colleges and universities. Most taxpayers would be similarly upset.

Your school has an entire support network that has no idea about the indoctrination perpetuated by the academic left. By contacting and activating legislators, community members, and (most important) alumni and donors, you can endanger your school’s purse strings and its prestige.

Allies you activate can influence administrators through phone calls, mail, and email. Some can help you most by taking the abuses to the print, online, and broadcast media.

The Process

Running a three-pronged attack on a monolithic administration is daunting and confusing. But an orderly, step-by-step approach will make it easier:

1. Collect all documents possible

Do your homework. This will not only help you form a defense strategy, but it will also make it easier to seek outside help later.

If you are being charged with a so-called “conduct code” violation, there should be a paper trail. You’re entitled to see it.  Get and keep copies of the written charges against you, any witness statements, and any formal notifications about the charges.

Sometimes the bureaucrats will refuse to give some information to you. If that happens, get their refusal in writing.  This may prove to be even more useful down the road.

In fact, all your dealings with the administration at this point should be in writing. Soon, you may find yourself in a student court or panel, discussing the charges. Avoid any oral conversation, unless the administrator will allow you to record it.

Research isn’t just about requesting documents, though. If other people can corroborate your side of the story, take witness statements. Read through the student conduct code and look for contradictions or vague language.

You may find the rule they claim you are breaking doesn’t even exist.  When Travis Ratliff published the debut issue of The Conscience at Cal State-Bakersfield, the administration accused him of soliciting (an unbelievable charge stemming from an ad in the paper inviting new writers to join).  When Travis met with a student services official, he asked to see the regulation he had allegedly broke. 

The dumbfounded official realized the “policy” had never been written down.

Remember, though, that this is not just a defensive battle.  As the school builds its case against you, you can build your case against the administrators.

You probably won’t be the first conservative harassed by your campus administration.  If your campus has a history of anti-conservative hostility, dig it up.  Though it may not help in front of a judicial board, it can help build your case when you go to the media.              

2. Contact helpful organizations

At this point, you probably feel pretty lonely.  You shouldn’t:  Help is out there.  You just have to ask.

The Leadership Institute, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and other national organizations have been set up to help you win in tough situations like these.  By working with them, you will ensure your story reaches the widest audience possible –- which may mean that other conservatives aren’t treated the same way at your campus or elsewhere in the future.

These organizations can offer valuable advice as events unfold.  They have dealt with similar situations before and can help you avoid common mistakes.

3. Craft your message

It’s important to create talking points and stick to them.  But how does one go about doing that?

To help conservative activists create talking points and stay on message, the Leadership Institute teaches a method called the “Leesburg Grid.”  It involves writing out not only your talking points, but the other side’s talking points as well.

Start by mapping out the points you want people to remember when they think about you.  What are your positives?  Setting yourself up as a champion of free speech is usually a good place to start.  If you have a good grade point average, that’s another important talking point.  Is your record otherwise clean except for the current, trumped-up charge the administration is trying to pin on you?

After that, list what you want people to think about the administration.  Do they have a history of oppressing conservatives?  Are they threatening your academic career because of extra-curricular activities?  Are they rushing you through a kangaroo court where they serve as judge, jury, and executioner?

Next, pretend you are a campus official handling this case, and try to do the exact same thing.  How does that official want people to perceive him and the administration?  How does he want people to perceive you?

Let’s say your recent article about gay marriage drew the ire of the “politically correct” left.  The head of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Resource Center has asked the administration to ban your conservative newspaper – and the administration is considering it.

Your grid may look something like this diagram:

If the debate centers around the school’s talking points (the points at the bottom of the diagram), it means they get to talk about the issues they want to highlight.  That puts them on offense and you on defense:

• “The school has very clear rules about civility in campus discourse, and you broke the rules.”
• “The university has a responsibility to make sure there’s a healthy, comfortable learning environment for all students.  You were being disruptive.”
• “This student expressed a controversial opinion and must expect to deal with the consequences when people get offended.”

You have to be on offense to score points, so keep to your issues (the points on top).  If they start talking about their points, pivot back to yours:

• “The real issue here is free speech on campus.  The university claims it’s an open marketplace of ideas, but when students get to campus they find that is not the case.”
• “The university likes to claim it’s looking out for everyone’s rights, but the simple fact is that these rules are enforced differently for those who don’t push a certain agenda."
• “I still don’t understand why the administration wants to negate my 3.8 grade point average because I wrote my opinion in the campus newspaper.”

A few years ago, a conservative group at the University of Richmond wanted to host one of the first affirmative action bake sales.  The prospect of selling baked goods at different prices based on race (to mimic the university’s admissions policy) made some group members nervous.  Even before the event happened, campus leftists were accusing them of racism.

By charting out their positions with a Leesburg Grid, the conservatives gained favorable publicity on local and national media.  They won the battle in every way.  You can avoid being painted into a rhetorical box by focusing coverage of the situation in a way which is advantageous to you.

In this particular situation, for example, there is a large difference between talking about “correcting past racism” and “equality for all.”  If you can keep the discussion focused on the latter, campus leftists will be unable to win the argument.  If they are able to focus on the word “racism,” however, the terms of the discussion will shift to the necessity of “correcting” that racism with more racism:  affirmative action.  You can point that out.

Effective messaging will help keep you focused on the important issues at hand and keep leftists from twisting the focus of the situation to their own message.

4. Alert the local press

Now that you’re prepared for battle, it’s time to go on the offensive.

Remember: if you’re starting a battle, take it to a field where you can win.  Since the school’s kangaroo court doesn’t fit that bill, move to the court of public opinion.  More specifically, start talking to local media.

Your first goal has to be getting your story covered somewhere.  This way, you’ll always have evidence that something happened.  And remember:  Media begets media, so the coverage you get could lead to more coverage, perhaps even in national media.

Best of all, the local paper probably gets delivered to the administrators who keep trying to make life rough for you.  And it goes to their neighbors, too.

Write a press release about your situation.  Keep it short and as simple as possible.  This will serve as your one-page summary of the controversy, something the print and broadcast media will want to see.

Press releases alone probably will not help get this story started, you’ll have to call the local reporters yourself (or with the help of the Leadership Institute, if you’re nervous).

Your local newspaper will have a beat reporter for your school –- someone who covers anything newsworthy that happens on campus.  This person is usually easy to find: simply log on to the newspaper’s website, search for stories about your school (excluding sports stories), and look to see who wrote them.  If that doesn’t work, find the number for the news desk and simply ask for the reporter who covers your campus.

Talk to the reporter.  Let him or her know what happened.  Stick to your talking points as best you can.  At some point, the reporter will probably ask for the facts in a press release.

Follow up with the reporter.  If there are any developments in your case, let him or her know.  If you don’t hear from the reporter for a couple days, call again and ask if any more info is needed.

Once, the Bucknell University Conservatives Club (BUCC) in Pennsylvania ignited a campus firestorm just by pointing out their administration’s anti-free speech regulations and actions in their publication, The Counterweight.  Angry leftist students and administrators held a secret meeting to discuss the charges, claiming the club’s stance in defense of free speech threatened civil discourse.

A few BUCC leaders heard about the meeting and attended it.  They were charged with purposefully trying to “hurt” people.

As the debate over how far free speech should go raged, the embattled conservatives decided to take the fight to the press –- although they were at first skeptical that anyone outside of campus would care.

The situation found its way onto the front page of the Sunbury, PA Daily Item.  Taking their cues from the local media, state and national media soon picked up the story.  For their efforts, the BUCC became the centerpiece of a long cover story about the conservative movement in the New York Times Magazine in May 2003.  The coverage was highly favorable to the conservative students.

Remember, you are armed with an effective message and our school probably won’t talk to the news media unless you push the issue.  That puts you in the driver’s seat, at least for this part of the battle.  Now the administration is on the defensive.

5. Involve interested political figures

Most schools aren’t prepared to handle a public relations assault.  They are equally unprepared to answer a monetary assault.

This gives you another battlefield on which to fight.

Letters and phone calls to prominent alumni, trustees, and big donors (such as anyone who has a campus building named after him or her) can earn you much needed support.  Ask them to contact the school and express support for you or to write letters to the editor.

If you go to a state school, you have even more opportunity to stir up support.  Start by contacting state legislators.  If a liberal legislator turns a deaf ear to your plea for help, contact conservative legislators from other districts.  They should enjoy the chance to take shots at the left-wing establishment at your school -– and, possibly, to make your legislator feel bad for ignoring you.

A state school gives you the benefit of another interested party:  taxpayers.  Let prominent local conservative activists know what happened.  They may be able to mobilize letter to the editor campaigns or calls to your school’s president.

Use your press coverage to help your cause with VIPs and vice versa.  If you can generate local coverage, it will make state legislators more likely to help your cause.  And once that state legislator agrees to help, his or her statement support is fuel for more media coverage.  The principle is the same with any big donor or local supporter.

6. Keep the issue alive

Just because you won (or lost) your case doesn’t mean the fight is over.  Keep looking for ways to keep the issue alive.  You don’t want the campus discussion to fizzle on an important topic.  In other words, keep asking yourself, “Now what?”

Remember, this goes beyond what the administration is trying to do to you now.  It also involves what they will try to do to you and your group in the future – and, possibly, what they will do to other campus conservatives long after you have graduated.

Keep the pressure on them.

One easy way to do this is to hold demonstrations.  If the administration banned your speaker, or brought you up on speech code charges, think of an action or activity you could hold to demonstrate the principles at stake.  Bring in a speaker who will discuss the situation.  Host a forum on the topic.  Take action and keep the issue at the forefront of campus news and discussion.

People who generally agree with you will grow indifferent or apathetic if you don’t keep the issue alive.  Keep the situation on their radar.  And no matter what else you do, be sure to invite media for photo opportunities whenever possible to keep it alive in the local media.

If the media is covering your story, push for even more media coverage.  If the local newspaper carries an article about the situation, try to get on the local TV station.  Then, start contacting the state and regional papers.  National radio and TV hosts often give powerful coverage to conservative students persecuted by the left on campus.

If you get an opportunity for national media attention, take it –- even if the situation seems to have been resolved.

One student at a state university ran into campus officials who refused to recognize her new conservative group on campus.  Some media exposure forced the school to reconsider, and her group was allowed.  Soon after, the student turned down an appearance on national television to talk about the situation.  As she saw it, she had already won, and did not want to burn bridges.

That was a mistake.  Would the administration have even thought about bothering her group in the future after a national appearance on a top-rated news show?  Probably not for a while.

The better a job you do at promoting the issue, the bigger the bargaining chip you have when you need something from your administration in the future.  But without a solid plan and a relentless, offensive mindset, you may find yourself subject to the future whims of your campus administrators.

III. Common Mistakes_____________________________________

It’s easy to lose focus on your strategy.  You wouldn’t be the first campus conservative to do so.

In fact, activists often make several common mistakes.

Trusting the system

Many delude themselves into believing that their actions should stand on their own and be argued on their merits.  They don’t want to start other fires while the original one is burning.

Even on a committee, leftists will not necessarily treat you favorably.  Often, they subordinate fairness to ideology on campus.  This surprises many who go before judicial panels and administrative boards.

Don’t assume that you will get a fair shake, that the facts will count, or that fighting only one battle at a time will assure your success. Those beliefs are not borne out by experience.

You cannot educate committed leftists enough to convince them to relent in their attacks upon you.

They will not play fair.  The facts won’t matter, and they’ll perpetually expand the conflict.  They play to win. Given enough time and opportunity to create a rationale, leftists will find any excuse to punish conservative students.  They will invent new regulations, tell you that you “should have known better,” or cite vague speech codes or regulations to intimidate you into silence.

Remember, they intend to make your school a leftist indoctrination center.  

Trusting that administrators will be lenient, tell the truth, act lawfully, or appreciate your best intentions is a recipe for disaster.  

You have to fight back and fight to win.

Not developing a media strategy

It’s easy to get so distracted and focused on outsmarting your campus opponents that you ignore the most important leverage you can use against your school:  the media.

Local reporters eagerly bite on controversy that involves students against the institution; this is the perennially popular story of the underdog.  The local press is almost always interested in a brewing controversy, yet few students send out basic press releases or make the most minimal call to update to their local newspaper.

The statement on academic freedom by the prestigious American Council on Education (ACE) will provide a good hook for the media.  Released on June 23, 2005, all the essential tenets of the conservative case against leftist bias have been affirmed by this “Statement on Academic Rights and Responsibilities.”

Major tenets include welcoming “intellectual pluralism” and ensuring that people should not be discriminated against because of their political views.  Certainly, we know that on today’s college campuses, only one philosophy is routinely disparaged – ours – and this ACE document is a wonderful statement of principles you can show to the media, proving that intellectual diversity should include conservatives.

Appendix B has a copy of this statement.

Establishing some contacts and getting some press clippings to copy and distribute will invariably lead to more press clippings in the future.  Nothing in politics moves unless it’s pushed, and the same is true for the media.

Always involve the media.  They will be more objective than your campus administrators.

Blowing the situation out of proportion or covering for your own mistakes

With all the rules and regulations in the modern university, it’s easy to run afoul of some small prohibition.  Sometimes it’s one of your members with alcohol in the dorms; other times it’s not filling out the right paperwork for an event.

For a conservative in the battle against leftist bias, it’s easy to become paranoid and start chalking up every small thing to a vast left-wing conspiracy.  It’s just not always the case that the university is coming after you.  When you legitimately mess up, it’s tempting to use the “oppression” excuse as a way to cover up the mistakes you make.  Don’t do that.

A student in California claimed his university was coming after him for writing conservative articles.  The university charged he had committed academic fraud, even though they refused to specify much further.  Some in the conservative movement took on the case at first, but then realized the charges were legitimate.

The best way to deal with this common mistake is still to pursue any injustice, but to be fully honest and thorough when asking for help from people in the conservative movement.  Provided with all the facts of the situation, the Leadership Institute’s Campus Leadership Program, FIRE, or other legal defense groups, will be able to assess your situation and handle it appropriately.

Taking your foot off gas

At some point you will feel the issue has run its course.  Maybe the local media has picked up your story.  The administration may even have finished their judicial hearing and handed down a punishment.

This is no time to let up.  Often, the difference between winners and losers in the political battle is not who is smarter or stronger, but who is willing to fight longer.

Taking your foot off the gas or deciding prematurely that your issue has run its course and expired is a classic mistake.  Don’t stop until you win.

Keeping the pressure on your opponents keeps them off balance, constantly responding to your initiatives, confused, and perpetually speculating as to what move you’ll make next.  The best defense is a good offense.

Trying to shoulder the entire burden

It’s easy to have a one-man show for an operation, not bothering with the details of having to recruit others.  This is a huge mistake because it allows your opposition to paint you as an isolated crank.

Always involve others in your fight, especially within the organization you’re trying to build.  Successfully dealing with opposition will build your status as a leader and has the potential to grow your group.

Too often, it’s easy to think, “This is my fight, I don’t need to involve others who might get punished.”  In reality, you’re being punished because of your principles, and no one should be silent when that happens.  Don’t hesitate to accept -– and even ask for -– the help or involvement of others.

Remember -- it may sound like a cliché, but you will find strength in numbers.  It will look worse for the university attack a large group of committed and responsible students than a single objector.

Conclusion:  Why We Fight_______________________________

You have a target on your back.  And so do thousands of other students across the country, just because of their conservative principles.

Some targeted victims wouldn’t even consider themselves activists.  They are just students who happen to be conservative and see nothing wrong with sharing their views.

Thousands of administrators, professors, and judicial boards are ready to take aim at conservatives.  But you’re different.  You’ve read “Fight Back,” and now you know when to call for help and whom to call.

Thousands upon thousands of conservative students don’t know that yet.

But after every big story about college administrators trying to shut down conservative activism, to silence a campus conservative newspaper, or to suspend a student for spreading conservative beliefs, the campus left has to pause and shudder.

Every story that gets out makes the target just a little less dangerous on the backs of those countless thousands of unsuspecting, principled conservative students.

And that’s who you’re fighting for.

Appendix A_____________________________________________

American Council on Education Statement on Academic Rights and Responsibilities

June 23, 2005


 Intellectual pluralism and academic freedom are central principles of American higher education. Recently, these issues have captured the attention of the media, political leaders and those in the academy. This is not the first time in the nation's history that these issues have become public controversies, but the current interest in intellectual discourse on campus suggests that the meaning of these terms, and the rights and responsibilities of individual members of the campus community, should be reiterated.

Without question, academic freedom and intellectual pluralism are complex topics with multiple dimensions that affect both students and faculty. Moreover, America's colleges and universities vary enormously, making it impossible to create a single definition or set of standards that will work equally well for all fields of academic study and all institutions in all circumstances. Individual campuses must give meaning and definition to these concepts within the context of disciplinary standards and institutional mission.

Despite the difficulty of prescribing a universal definition, we believe that there are some central, overarching principles that are widely shared within the academic community and that deserve to be stated affirmatively as a basis for discussion of these issues on campuses and elsewhere.

• American higher education is characterized by a great diversity of institutions, each with its own mission and purpose. This diversity is a central feature and strength of our colleges and universities and must be valued and protected. The particular purpose of each school, as defined by the institution itself, should set the tone for the academic activities undertaken on campus.
• Colleges and universities should welcome intellectual pluralism and the free exchange of ideas. Such a commitment will inevitably encourage debate over complex and difficult issues about which individuals will disagree. Such discussions should be held in an environment characterized by openness, tolerance and civility.
• Academic decisions including grades should be based solely on considerations that are intellectually relevant to the subject matter under consideration. Neither students nor faculty should be disadvantaged or evaluated on the basis of their political opinions. Any member of the campus community who believes that he or she has been treated unfairly on academic matters must have access to a clear institutional process by which his or her grievance can be addressed.
• The validity of academic ideas, theories, arguments and views should be measured against the intellectual standards of relevant academic and professional disciplines. Application of these intellectual standards does not mean that all ideas have equal merit. The responsibility to judge the merits of competing academic ideas rests with colleges and universities and is determined by reference to the standards of the academic profession as established by the community of scholars at each institution.
• Government’s recognition and respect for the independence of colleges and universities is essential for academic and intellectual excellence. Because colleges and universities have great discretion and autonomy over academic affairs, they have a particular obligation to ensure that academic freedom is protected for all members of the campus community and that academic decisions are based on intellectual standards consistent with the mission of each institution.