The four co-founders of the SFU Academic Freedom Group, Alexandra Lysova, Richard Frank (from Criminology), along with Rachel Altman (from Statistics and Actuarial Science) and Mark Collard (from Archeology), attended the Heterodox Academy conference in Chicago. All four of us are also co-chairs of the Heterodox Academy Campus Community at SFU and also the co-founders and co-directors of the Academic Freedom Group at SFU.
Given the many issues that higher education faces, which have led to the dramatic decline in public trust, we discussed these challenges and shared our experiences in defending open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement at SFU.
All four of us were also invited to a meeting at the University of Chicago with leaders in promoting academic freedom and institutional neutrality in higher education. This meeting included a small group of exceptional leaders from the University of Chicago and other leading schools in the US, including Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University.
A photo with John Tomasi, the Director of the Heterodox Academy.
There is also a photo of Alexandra Lysova, Rachel Altman, Jonathan Haidt (the former Director of the Heterodox Academy and author of the books “The Coddling of the American Mind” and “The Anxious Generation”).
Additionally, there is a photo of Rachel Altman, Alexandra Lysova, and two other presenters from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
