Academic Freedom

For the past half-century, Stanford has protected academic freedom through policies implemented in accordance with its 1974 Statement on Academic Freedom, passed by the Faculty Senate and approved by the Board of Trustees. The Preamble to the 1974 Statement proclaims that “Stanford University’s central functions of teaching, learning, research, and scholarship depend upon an atmosphere in which freedom of inquiry, thought, expression, publication, and peaceable assembly are given the fullest protection.” 

The 1974 Statement applies to members of the professoriate, defined in the Faculty Handbook 1.2.5 as: the tenure-line faculty, the non-tenure-line faculty; Senior Fellows and Center Fellows at specified policy centers and institutes; and the University Medical Line faculty. Academic freedom also applies to members of the academic staff in a manner “appropriate to their roles and responsibilities,” as explained in the Academic Staff—Teaching and Other Teaching Staff Handbook 4.1.

More recently, Stanford has further implemented the 1974 Statement’s prohibition on institutional orthodoxy through its Institutional Statements Policy, passed by the Faculty Senate in 2024 and affirmed by the Board of Trustees.