The University of Chicago has received a $100 million gift from an anonymous donor to support free expression, marking what may be the largest-ever single donation to support such values in higher education, the university announced Thursday.
In addition to generally supporting the university’s “leadership on the principles and practice of free expression,” the gift will fund the programming of the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, launched last year by university President Paul Alivisatos. Discussions surrounding the donation have been ongoing for over a year, according to a university spokesperson.
The forum’s programs will be significantly expanded through the new gift, according to the Thursday news release. The university says it plans to introduce a fellowship for free expression scholars from around the world and a research program on “emerging free expression issues” such as artificial intelligence, while expanding the forum’s orientation sessions for all incoming undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff.
In the release, Alivisatos touted the university’s history of promoting free expression.
In 2015, a university committee published a set of guidelines surrounding freedom of expression — now known as the Chicago Principles — which over 100 institutions have since adopted in some form.
In 1967, U. of C. leadership also directed the creation of a report that clarified the concept of “institutional neutrality”: when universities decline to take an institutional stance on social and political issues in an attempt to protect the freedom of dissent on campus.
However, the university was criticized last year by some who said they had failed to live up to their own ideals after U. of C. police arrested pro-Palestinian student protesters during a sit-in and then the university temporarily withheld degrees of students involved in the spring’s protest encampment.
In the Thursday release, the university wrote that the gift comes at “a pivotal time of opportunities and threats to free expression at U.S. universities and internationally.”
Over the first year of its existence, the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression held discussions on a number of controversial topics, including the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
With a new influx of funding, the forum is now planning a slate of three events in October focusing on “a possible pathway for peace in the Middle East,” inviting speakers including a former leader of the Palestinian Authority and a scholar from Tel Aviv University.
The forum will also use the new gift to run its Academic Freedom Institute, which was launched this summer, bringing college and university leaders together to attend workshops on academic freedom. In future years, the program will be expanded beyond the realm of higher education, according to the university’s release.
