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Campus For All Workshops for Administrators, Faculty, Staff, and Students

Campus For All Workshops for Administrators, Faculty, Staff, and Students

PEN America’s Campus for All workshop series covers the basics of free speech and academic freedom on campus, while equipping administrators, faculty, staff, and students to respond to a range of challenging scenarios. Our programs draw upon PEN America’s years of experience engaging with universities around the U.S. and our philosophy that higher education institutions can and must balance robust protections for free speech with efforts to advance universal access to education. Read more about our principles in our Campus Free Speech Guide.

Bring us to your campus! Reach out to us at [email protected]. 

What We Offer

Workshops:

Our workshops are developed by a diverse team of higher education professionals with expertise in law, restorative practices, and civic dialogue. We offer 90-minute – 2-hour standalone virtual sessions as well as full-day workshops which include presentations, scenario work, and extended Q&A. We will work with you to design the program that best fits your needs and budget. Our workshops include:

  • Conceptual Foundations of Free Speech and Academic Freedom
  • Navigating Tense Moments and Aftermath Communications for Leadership
  • Navigating Tense Moments for Staff
  • Setting the Stage for Robust Engagement in the Classroom

For Students:

  • Showing Up as a Peer Leader 
  • Academic Freedom Colloquium (full day)
  • Student Summit on Free Expression (full day)

PEN America’s goal is to help colleges and universities institutionalize free speech education on their campuses. In order to achieve this, in 2024 we piloted a new multi-year partnership with campuses to provide comprehensive programming and workshops, resources, and teaching modules holistically across campuses. We are also building a Train-the-Trainers Institute for groups of campus professionals to learn our material and become empowered to deliver free speech education on their campuses in the years to come. 

If you are interested in learning more about this comprehensive partnership, reach out to us at [email protected].

Speakers and Panelists:

PEN America’s Campus Free Speech experts are also available for keynotes, panels, and conference presentations on free expression themes. Reach out to us at [email protected] for more information.

Impact & Reach

Since 2016, PEN America has hosted over 400 workshops and events reaching more than 20,000 students, faculty, staff, and administrators across over 60 campuses including:

  • Augustana College
  • Bard College
  • Harvard University
  • Maryland Institute College of Art
  • Maricopa Community College
  • McGill University
  • Miami Dade College
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Rice University
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Massachusetts
  • University of Mississippi
  • University of Rochester
  • University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • University of Wisconsin, River Falls
  • Oregon State University
  • Princeton University
  • Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
  • Stockton University
  • Washington College

Testimonials

“This is hands down one of the BEST faculty development seminars I have been to in a while. Bravo! It was a lot of info but I feel like I was kept engaged and I feel like I know how to apply my learnings.”
(Faculty, Bard College)

“I truly enjoyed the “feel” of the workshop. It was more about intellectual inquiry and discussion. I felt very engaged.”
(Dean, University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

“[The instructors were] Personable, professional, and relatable. [They] used concrete pragmatic advice, examples, scenarios, phrases we can say/implement into our lexicon in being positively proactive.”
(Faculty member, Maryland Institute College of Art)

Facilitators