by: News Release & Posted By Staff | newsweb@everythinglubbock.com

Carol Sumner(Photo provided by TTU)

LUBBOCK, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) The following is a news release from Texas Tech University:

Carol A. Sumner, chief diversity officer and vice president ofTexas Tech UniversitysDivision of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, has been named to a new national task force that will focus on free speech expression in higher education. TheAcademic Leaders Task Force on Campus Free Expressionhas been launched by theBipartisan Policy Center(BPC) to identify practices, programs and policies that foster robust campus cultures.

The task force led by former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, CEO of Challenge Seattle, and former Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, Middlebury College executive in residence includes a diverse group of university presidents, professors, administrators and civic leaders with distinguished records of creating strategies to strengthen open exchange and tolerance at a wide range of higher education institutions.

Free speech is the hallmark, the bedrock of who we are in terms of culture; its the thought that we dont have to agree to share our perspective, Sumner said. It is through our ability to converse and share our perspectives that we truly learn. You cannot empathize with others if you are not exposed to experiences that are different from your own or you do not have the opportunity to share your own experiences.

Sumner said she first learned about the task force after her involvement in other BPC events on free speech and discourse on racial issues in higher education. Colleges and universities are searching for ways to create meaningful free-expression strategies that suit a changing higher education landscape while staying true to their institutions unique mission and their commitments to diversity and inclusion. Those who wish to create such an approach can lack a reliable roadmap for doing so.

One of the goals is to create a resource kit or manual that includes certain steps on ways to look at free speech and how to ensure it is a practice that continues on our campuses, Sumner said.

The task force will look at several issues including:

Higher education institutions have a special role in Americas democracy, preparing the next generation for civic leadership and principled debate, said BPC President Jason Grumet. Our democracy cannot succeed if we accept the false premise that free expression is somehow at odds with cultural diversity, inclusion and individual well-being.

The other members of the task force are:

This is going to bring together leaders from across education who have the scale and scope of experiences that allow us to see the topic of free speech from different perspectives, Sumner said. My goal is to contribute as much as I get out of the experience. It is through our shared knowledge that we can help create a set of resources that will benefit not just those on our campuses, but those who are in the communities where our institutions are located.

BPC will host thefirst panel event on the task forcefrom noon to 1 p.m. Dec. 1.Those interested in attending may RSVP online.

(News release from Texas Tech University)

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