INSOMNIA THEATER (ACADEMIC FREEDOM EDITION) – This week’s post features a video of University of Chicago law professor and interim dean Geoffrey Stone discussing his role in the crafting of the University of Chicago’s terrific statement on freedom of expression.

The events at the University of Missouri, Yale, Amherst, and so many other institutions over the past few weeks show just how important it is for schools to adopt a statement affirming their support for robust speech protections for faculty and students. The Chicago statement guarantees “all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn,” and makes clear that “it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.”

FIRE endorsed the statement back in January and has written hundreds of faculty members, students, and student journalists at institutions nationwide encouraging them to do the same. Since then, the editorial boards of USA TODAY and the New York Daily News have both endorsed the statement. And now colleges and universities are beginning to follow suit— Princeton University, Purdue University, Johns Hopkins University, American University, and Winston-Salem State University have all either endorsed the Chicago statement or embraced similar sets of principles.

You can learn more about the Chicago statement from Geoffrey Stone in the video below, and you can sign on to the statement yourself over at FIRE’s website.