Benedict College President joins 60 college presidents to uphold free expression on college campuses

COLUMBIA, S.C. (courtesy benedict.edu) — Recognizing this urgent moment for American higher education and democracy, Benedict College President and CEO Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis is joining 60 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus.

“The years that students spend on campus often involve the closest proximity they will experience in their lifetimes to people who think very differently than they do,” noted Artis. “At Benedict College it is an incredible opportunity to learn and grow. However, the benefits are only felt if all students are free to articulate what they believe and are willing to listen to the convictions of others.”

Through College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a unique consortium designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, participating presidents are dedicated to preparing the next generation of well-informed, productively engaged, and committed citizens; defending free expression, civil discourse, and critical inquiry as essential civic norms; and increasing thoughtful engagement and better understanding by students for the effective functioning of our democracy. The consortium, first announced with 15 members in August 2023, has grown significantly, demonstrating momentum for this movement.

Participating presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments:

• Educating for democracy is central to our mission.
• We will prepare our students for a vibrant, diverse, and contentious society.
• We will protect and defend free inquiry.

Taken together, these fresh commitments embrace both free speech and diversity, two values often pitted against each other, by instead emphasizing meaningful engagement and inquiry with different voices and viewpoints. The commitments stress diversity as a strength of both American democracy and campus life and affirm the truth-seeking role of higher education through curiosity and inquiry. They also enable campus leaders to take substantive action to promote democratic engagement among students, with public accountability for progress through publication of an annual impact report.

Presidents are developing campus-specific programming to advance the Civic Commitments in 2024, including new courses, outside speakers, student orientations, presidential speeches, technology tools, and voter education initiatives. A complete listing appears on the consortium website. At Benedict planned programming includes:

• Supporting faculty committed to dialogue and civic discourse, expanding their intellectual frameworks in this area, and assisting in developing courses and initiatives to help prepare students to have productive conversations across differences.
• Realignment of two courses in the standard curriculum of the Mass Communication Program with the agenda of the Citizens and Scholars initiative.
• Early introduction of the Citizens and Scholars component in the program curriculum, to allow sufficient time to develop a set of scalable best practices across the program curriculum and cross-departmentally.