The Faculty Senate
Gainesville, Florida 32611

-DRAFT-

FACULTY SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF INCLUSIVE FREE SPEECH

WHEREAS the University of Florida is committed to fostering a community fully open to all races, genders, sexual identities, religions, national origins, ethnicities and cultures and in which individual rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, are protected within a framework of tolerance and common human respect, and

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate of the University of Florida reaffirms the statement in Article V of the University's Constitution that states "(A) university faculty and student body must be free to cultivate a spirit of inquiry and scholarly criticism and to examine ideas in an atmosphere of freedom and confidence" and,

WHEREAS the spirit of inquiry, scholarly criticism and the examination of ideas includes the right to express disagreement with others' views, and

WHEREAS the exercise of the right of free speech within the University community calls forth from each person a corresponding responsibility to show respect for the opinions of others and to exercise good judgment and civility during the process of such disagreement,

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Faculty Senate commits to promoting a campus environment in which every member of the University community, without fear of intimidation or exclusion based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or national origin, is equally free and confident to exercise the right to fully contribute to the advancement of truth and to freedom in learning.

DATED THIS Twentieth Day of April 2001.

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