Academic Freedom

Eastern Mennonite University’s mission is to equip students to think, serve, and lead in a global context. As a Christian university, EMU serves its denomination, the broader church, and the common good through the acquisition and dissemination of disciplined knowledge and reflective practice. In order to carry out its educational mission, EMU is committed to maintaining a community of learning where all members ‐‐ faculty, staff, and students alike ‐‐ are free to pursue truth in all disciplines and modes of inquiry, and are protected from internal or external influences that would restrict them from the responsible exercise of truth‐seeking.

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Our Christian university serves the church and the common good both by transmitting and by critically challenging received traditions of human knowledge. Because debates regarding traditional wisdom can be perceived as threatening and may often involve trial and error, community members shall exercise academic freedom responsibly in a spirit of civility, humility, respect, and care for the common good. When so exercised, academic freedom reflects and extends EMU’s core Christian values of discipleship, community, and service.

Academic Freedom Procedures

Eastern Mennonite University is committed to academic freedom as articulated in its academic freedom policy. EMU also recognizes that freedom of any sort comes with attendant risks. The free exercise of academic writing, speech, and performance may have consequences for the university in a variety of arenas. These include, for example: 1) identity and mission; 2) relationships with important constituencies; 3) reputation; 4) finances; and/or 5) health and safety. Importantly, some expressions of potentially controversial ideas and arguments can put at risk the culture of civility and respect that is foundational for the very exercise of academic freedom in a community of learning.

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