Institutional Restraint at Johns Hopkins University

Leaders of our university are often invited to issue public statements that respond to global, national, or local occurrences on behalf of the university, its schools, departments, or divisions. But the issuance of institutional statements is not without risk to the university’s core mission and to the relentless and courageous pursuit of truth, a foundational commitment that is enshrined in our university’s Statement of Principles of Academic Freedom.

When universities issue formal statements on matters of public or scholarly controversy, the expressive activity of faculty and students who wish to interrogate or challenge the views undergirding these statements cannot help but be chilled. This represents a serious loss to our truth-seeking role. We know that however provocative or outlandish we regard the views of those who dissent from or criticize existing orthodoxies, experience shows that some of these dissenting views may well, in time, be validated or explored in ways that take us closer to the ideal of truth. For this reason, it is critical that the university refrain from staking out official positions that, even if inadvertently, subvert the truth-seeking of our faculty and students.

In light of the foregoing and based on the guidance of the Johns Hopkins University Council, the university has adopted the following policy regarding the issuance of statements that seek to represent the academic unit(s) in question in response to external matters.

The University, Academic Divisions, and Departments

The university, its academic divisions, and its departments, inclusive of the divisions of the School of Medicine (“SOM divisions”), will issue public statements in response to global, national, or local events only where the issue at hand is clearly related to a direct, concrete, and demonstrable interest or function of the university or the academic unit. Such statements will be issued sparingly and with due regard to our university’s foundational commitment to academic freedom.

Centers and Institutes

The posture of restraint for centers and institutes will take the form of guidance. Centers and institutes are encouraged to:

• issue only statements that are informed by the academic expertise of the center or institute and concern topics within the specific mission, interests, or functions of the center or institute;
• refrain from issuing statements of sympathy, solidarity, or condemnation;
• when issuing a statement, include a disclaimer that makes clear the center or institute is speaking on its own behalf and only on its own behalf; and adopt procedures to protect dissenting views in the center or institute.

Leaders and Faculty

This posture of restraint at all times leaves untouched the freedom of individual faculty, acting either on their own or assembling collectively on a voluntarily basis, to comment on matters of interest or controversy. The posture of restraint applies to the leaders of the university and its academic units when they issue statements in their official capacity on behalf of the units they lead. These leaders may write or speak on external matters in their personal or scholarly capacities. When a leader of the university, its academic divisions, or its departments identifies themselves by their leadership title in a statement on such matters, they should make clear they are speaking only in their individual capacity and not on behalf of their academic unit, unless the issue is clearly related to an interest or function of the university or academic unit.

Resources

Questions about the scope or application of these rules should be directed to the relevant dean’s office. Answers to frequently asked questions will be provided on this page as needed.

Additional information about this posture of institutional restraint can be found in the university messages of Aug. 15, 2024, and Oct. 27, 2025.