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Wisconsin Regents Back Free Speech

University of Wisconsin students protested a Board of Regents resolution on academic freedom.Credit...Amber Arnold/Wisconsin State Journal, via Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin has become the latest university system to officially affirm the right to free speech and academic freedom for all students amid concerns that academia is trying to protect students from being offended by classroom lectures and discussions.

The system’s Board of Regents voted 16 to 2 on Friday to adopt a resolution stating that the university should not shield people from ideas or opinions they find unwelcome or offensive.

“These are not just pretty words we are going to put in a brass plaque,” said a regent, José Delgado. “You’ve got to be able to listen hard, even if it hurts.”

Civil rights advocates are concerned that universities are trying to limit free speech to protect students from feeling offended. Civil liberties supporters have also raised concerns over the use of “trigger warnings” to alert students about uncomfortable course content. On some campuses, groups have demonstrated against or canceled appearances by contentious speakers.

At the University of Missouri’s campus in Columbia, protesters angry over racial incidents forced the president of the University of Missouri system, Timothy M. Wolfe, to resign last month. An assistant professor aligned with protesters blocked a student photographer from the protesters’ tent city, and the university police told students to report any hateful or hurtful speech they experienced, leaving the impression any comment considered offensive could be prosecuted as a crime.

The issue grew contentious on the University of Wisconsin’s main campus in Madison last month after Chancellor Rebecca M. Blank wrote in her blog that no one is entitled to express beliefs in ways that diminish others. Ms. Blank said later that she had just been trying to encourage civility.

Another Wisconsin regent, Tim Higgins, and faculty members began developing the resolution in May, following the lead of the University of Chicago and Purdue University in Indiana. The president of the Board of Regents, Regina Millner, said the measure had not been inspired by any recent events but was intended to reassure faculty members that they would still enjoy academic freedom as the board drafted new tenure policies.

Ms. Millner pointed out that the regents had reaffirmed their commitment to free speech seven times since 1922 and said students must find the strength to listen to viewpoints they did not share.

Charles Pruitt and José Vásquez were the only regents who voted against the measure. Mr. Pruitt said he did not think it had been fully thought through. Mr. Vásquez said he did not see any problems with how people expressed themselves on the university’s campuses before the resolution.

“What is the issue we’re trying to truly address?” he asked.

A group of about 20 protesters filed into the meeting after the resolution was approved to draw attention to their demands for more recognition of diversity on campus. Ms. Millner acknowledged them and thanked them for coming but did not give them an opportunity to speak.

As the meeting drew to a close, the students stood and demanded to talk. One of them read a speech about how the resolution would open the door to hate speech. The regents ignored him and made their closing remarks as he continued to shout.

The students left without incident.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 40 of the New York edition with the headline: Wisconsin Regents Back Free Speech . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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