A Personal Perspective: When should academic leaders speak?
The forces that have shaped the controversies about academic leaders weighing in on contemporary issues in the current moment are now. While they came to the fore in the past few months, they reflect social forces that have shaped the academy over the, or so. Given the rancor of the moment, it can seem easier to say, “We should not speak at all.” It is also true that events and issues are fluid, and constantly evolving.
Should the challenges facing academic leaders’ speaking push us into an academic retreat, into silence on issues of contemporary consequence? I am not so sure.
At the same time, a depth of knowledge in one or two areas is not the same as a depth of knowledge in all areas, and academic leaders should have the humility and self-reflection to keep this in mind. For a university leader, this may mean speaking principally about the role of universities in society. For a school-level leader, this may mean speaking about issues that intersect with the subject-matter focus of that school.
Second, academic leaders should speak when doing so is helpful to their community. Academic leaders, at all levels, have communities they are responsible for, and there is often a pastoral need for academic leaders to speak. Academic communities are brought and held together, in part, by the words of leaders. When we speak, it is not just to articulate a position but to engage with the needs of a community, to make space for members of our community to speak and be heard.
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