Institutional Voice from the grave

Newsletter #22 reviews Cornell’s draft report on “Institutional Voice,” concluding that its primary intent is to kill voice. The policy contends that “discretion,” rather than speech, is often more strategic for the university. This underpins a series of warnings to deans, departments, and units to restrain their speech. Faculty, students, and staff must wrestle power out of the hands of authoritarian bureaucrats, whose protestations of “neutrality” hide a conflict of interest.