Regents: Protect Academic Freedom and Advance Racial Justice and Equality

A cynical nationwide disinformation campaign has found its way to Nebraska. The goal: censoring and chilling free expression and academic freedom.

University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen, a candidate for governor, is asking his fellow regents to approve a resolution to oppose critical race theory. Critical race theory is a framework that has been used for decades as a way to understand how race and racism operate at a systemic level in the U.S., both historically and today. Critical race theory is an academic concept, a lens through which to examine whether systemic racism is deeply ingrained in American society and whether and how our systems promote racial inequality. The idea is to use that information to find common ground and craft equitable solutions.

Most of the opposition to critical race theory is misguided, fueled by misunderstanding and inaccuracy.

There is no reason to fear studying that part of our history where our nation has fallen short of our equality ideals and the vestiges of that history that continues to impact America today. The proposed resolution should be rejected as an attempt to censor and chill free expression and conversations of systemic racism in the classroom, indeed, to literally whitewash America's past and present. If regents approve this resolution, they will be sending a clear and harmful message: talk about race and racism at your own risk.

Universities should be places where free expression thrives and where students tackle the most important issues of our time. If professors and students can't talk candidly about slavery, dispossession, segregation, internment camps, Jim Crow laws, systemic racism, educational and health inequities, or redlining, how can they possibly talk about matters of racial equity? Silencing conversations about race can only set back progress while denying our students an inclusive education and teachers and students their First Amendment rights.

Regents, we need you to vote no on this resolution because it is big government censorship. Honest wide-ranging conversations drawing on diverse perspectives and theories should be encouraged, not silenced. The ACLU of Nebraska, Anti-Defamation League of the Plains States / CRC, and the NAACP Lincoln Branch are proud to unite in organizing this petition to be delivered to the regents at their August meeting.

Sign the petition today.