When Should the University Speak? Cornell’s Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice

Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice Draft Report  October 2025 Update  Please provide feedback on the report  Members of our community —  whether students, staff, faculty, or alumni — feel deeply about many local, national, and world events, but does that mean that a university should opine on such weighty matters? Or should the university sit back and allow the individual voices of the community rise to the surface? Can it do both? And when the university does speak, who speaks for the university? What principles should govern this decision of when and how often to speak?  Last year, Cornell University created the Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice to examine these questions and issue recommendations to the community. A draft report was released to the Cornell community during the fall semester outlining principles and providing suggestions to guide how the president, provost, deans, academic departments, and others should approach this issue. The Task Force was co-chaired by Cornell Law School Dean Jens David Ohlin and Deputy Provost Avery August. In this Keynote, Dean Ohlin and the Professor Nelson Tebbe will discuss the Task Force’s findings. What You’ll Learn: How Cornell University is studying the issue of institutional voice The principles and guidelines recommended by Cornell’s Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice The various approaches that other universities have taken on this issue Follow eCornell on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X.