From its very founding, the University of Chicago has dedicated itself to the
preservation and celebration of the freedom of expression as an essential element of the
University’s culture. In 1902, in his address marking the University’s decennial,
President William Rainey Harper declared that “the principle of complete freedom of
speech on all subjects has from the beginning been regarded as fundamental in the
University of Chicago” and that “this principle can neither now nor at any future time be
called in question.”