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Goal 3 Union of Academic Freedom and a Culture of Mutual Respect and Concern

All members of the Harvard community can, in a thoughtful and concrete manner, work to discover and develop teaching, learning, mentoring, and interpersonal engagement strategies that promote academic freedom alongside mutual respect and concern. This goal invites consideration of pedagogy, the structure of public programs, the norms and modes of interpersonal exchanges, and trust-building. This goal also calls for consideration of research into ways to support difficult conversations. While broader public conversations often cast academic freedom and inclusion as antagonistic goals or, at best, two distinct values that must be accommodated to each other, we propose a richer understanding. The values of academic freedom and inclusion and belonging provide each other with synergistic and mutual reinforcement. Academic freedom is necessary to help us fully realize the value of inclusion and belonging. It anchors the principle that heterodox views should be protected in their expression and that we should bring the best principles of academic debate — not ad hominem argument, not personal invective, not threats, not unwitting insult — to the work of evaluating those views. Similarly, inclusion makes the value of academic freedom real by ensuring that all voices gain from its protections. Fostering synergistic mutual reinforcement of these two values will require refinement of thinking and practice.

HDS Vital Conversations

The Divinity School introduced a daylongconversation and presentation series duringincoming student orientation titled Vital Conversations, which focused on addressing racism and sexual and gender-based violence, and offered a continued series of community conversations throughout theyear with the same title, but touching on other aspects of diversity and inclusion.There were many events and programsorganized within the community, particularly by the student group HDS Racial Justice and Healing Initiative:

  • A conference on Buddhism and race.
  • A three-part...
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HLS Faculty Teaching Workshops

Each summer two or three of the faculty workshops focus on teaching, includingtopics such as gender and race in the classroom; experiential learning; and learning outcomes and assessments. These are workshops in which faculty share bestpractices for creating environments that foster inclusion and belonging in teachingand learning.

Takeaway

This practice provides an example ofhow to schedule formal time and spacefor faculty members to share how theycreate and foster inclusion and belonging through teaching and learning. Thebroader practice of sharing knowledge...

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GSD Joint Faculty-Staff Meeting

A joint faculty-staff meeting at thestart of each academic year promotes asense of shared vision in which the dean, faculty, and administrative leadershiplay out selected accomplishments andgoals. Human Resources (HR) provides staff and faculty opportunities to connect outside of the regular daily routine. HR coordinates regular Druker Design Gallerytours of current exhibitions led by faculty curators. In collaboration with the GSD Joint Council, HR hosts an annual “DesignToday” lecture given by a GSD facultymember to provide an opportunity forstaff to learn about the intellectual...

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