(NEW YORK)—PEN America today unveiled a completely revamped Campus Free Speech Guide, a unique digital resource designed to help students, faculty, and administrators navigate the complex challenges of speech, protest, and academic freedom sweeping U.S. colleges and universities.
Amid intense national attention on issues ranging from the protests about the Israel-Hamas war, to the firing of faculty and staff for their social media posts, to speaker cancellations, and debates over hateful expression, this second edition of the Campus Free Speech Guide provides grounding principles, analysis of real conflicts involving free speech on campus, and clear, accessible advice for students, faculty, and administrators. “Our goal is to equip colleges and universities to respond to controversy not with censorship, but with clarity, fairness, and education,” said Kristen Shahverdian, PEN America’s program director of campus free speech. “A key principle that PEN America highlights is that free speech and inclusion are not opposing goals; they are complementary values at the heart of higher education.”
Empowering Campus Communities
The Campus Free Speech Guide distills PEN America’s philosophy, advocacy and expertise into seven guiding principles:
- Campuses are essential democratic spaces for inquiry and debate.
- Campuses have a dual obligation to protect free speech and advance diversity and inclusion.
- Education empowers expression; policy alone is insufficient.
- Leaders must model free speech and open dialogue.
- Hateful speech should be challenged—not suppressed.
- Policies should enable more speech, not less.
- Colleges and universities must maintain autonomy from political interference.
The guide also offers explanations of law and policy including First Amendment protections, differences between public and private institutions, hateful expression, and protest rights.
Real-World Case Studies
Drawing on recent campus controversies, PEN America’s guide includes tip sheets and explainers on issues including protests, free speech zones, student leadership during free speech crises, academic freedom, and hateful expression. Accompanying each of these tips sheets and explainers are detailed case studies on issues such as faculty firings over social media posts, heckling, and hateful graffiti. Each study provides context, legal insight, and PEN America’s evaluation, equipping stakeholders to respond thoughtfully while preserving free speech and academic freedom.
Responding to Urgent Challenges
The resource arrives at a time of unprecedented campus tension, catalyzed by the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023 and amplified by growing pressures from lawmakers, donors, and students.
In its inception, PEN America’s Campus Free Speech Guide was created to respond to campus communities that felt attacked or isolated for their political and cultural points of view and to offer principled, practical guidance for all. More recently, with higher education facing intensified scrutiny particularly from the White House, campus leaders need clear, credible guidance rooted in both legal principles and practical experience.
The Guide is designed to be continuously updated, featuring a new blog series with emerging case studies, tip sheets, and explainers addressing ongoing campus concerns such as protest, civil disobedience, academic freedom boundaries, and strategies for tackling hateful speech without chilling lawful expression.
Who Will Benefit
- Students seeking clarity on rights and responsibilities.
- Faculty and staff charged with balancing academic freedom, inclusion efforts, and developing institutional policy.
- Administrators looking to respond to controversy with consistency and integrity.
What Makes the Guide Distinctive
Unlike resources focused solely on the law, PEN America’s Campus Free Speech Guide is based on years of experience in the higher education sector and integrates actionable ethics, pedagogy, and practical recommendations for both prevention and crisis response. Since 2016, PEN America has hosted over 400 workshops and events reaching more than 20,000 students, faculty, staff, and administrators across 60+ campuses.
“Campus leaders face constant pressure to get free speech right,” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms Managing Director for U.S. Free Expression Programs. “This guide draws on years of PEN America’s direct work with colleges and universities nationwide and offers practical ways to foster open, respectful dialogue on challenging issues. At a time of rising political threats, strengthening free speech and academic freedom is central to PEN America’s core mission to protect the rights that make creative expression possible.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Malka Margolies, [email protected], 929-383-1856