Academic freedom and the freedom of expression are the foundations on which universities rest as places that cultivate democracy and intellectual debate. Recent shifts in political culture and debate have consequences for the culture of debate at universities. In the United States, as well as in Germany, universities currently are called upon to take a stand for the principles of free expression. What is the current state of free debate and open discourse at universities? Are there limits to free speech? And how can the principle of free expression be effectively protected? These and other questions are at the center of the event “Freedom of Expression: On the Culture of Debate at Universities”, co-organized by The University of Chicago and the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz/HRK).

A commitment to the principles of free speech and academic freedom, and their importance to rigorous and open scholarly inquiry, has been a core value at the University of Chicago since its inception. In 2015, the University of Chicago published the Chicago Principles, which articulate the university’s overarching commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation. As the umbrella organization of universities, universities of applied science as well as colleges of art and music, the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) is committed to protect the principles of free discussion and open debate at higher education institutions in Germany.