Pepperdine President Jim Gash Pens Op-Ed on Academic Freedom for U.S. News & World Report

As academic freedom on college campuses draws national attention, Pepperdine University president Jim Gash has contributed a timely op-ed to U.S. News & World Report, published today, examining the role of faith-based institutions in shaping and sustaining true academic freedom.

In the piece, titled “Can Belief in God Strengthen Academic Freedom?” Gash argues that while nearly all universities claim to support academic freedom, religious institutions are uniquely positioned to pursue truth with intellectual rigor and moral clarity, precisely because they are honest about the values that guide them.

“With a firm institutional faith in God, we are not afraid of scientific and intellectual investigation,” Gash says, “because we are confident that such inquiry will reveal truths about God's character and world.”

Gash explains academic freedom as “the ability of faculty—and, some would say, students—to pursue knowledge through research, teaching, and speaking, without undue influence or censorship,” adding that “it is the responsibility of higher education leaders to help define and defend its nature, purpose, and scope.”

Drawing on a recent national gathering of Christian college leaders hosted at Pepperdine, Gash reflects on the distinct advantages of institutions that are "tethered" to a foundational belief in objective truth. At Pepperdine, he writes, academic freedom is not diminished by faith—it is deepened by it.

“We believe there is value in sitting across the table from someone who thinks differently,” he writes. “Rather than seeing them as an enemy, we engage in civil discussion, rooted in evidence, seeing them as a human being created in the image of God. We believe that objective truth does exist and can be found and we want to have tough classroom conversations—even intense debates—on difficult topics and remain friends afterwards.”

Read the full op-ed on the U.S. News & World Report website.