Office of the Provost

Fairfield University understands that academic freedom applies to all faculty engaged in those activities (eg. classroom teaching, published research, production of artistic artifacts) that reflect the academic expertise of a faculty member. Unlike the narrower purview of academic freedom, freedom of expression applies to all of our community members, including students, employees, administrators, campus organizations, and invited speakers. These guiding principles for the freedom of expression at Fairfield University are to be understood and applied in such a manner.

Civil Discourse

Fairfield seeks for its members to model civil modes of discourse, a practice through which our students will learn to be proficient and integral citizens of a healthy democracy. We identify civil discourse to be respectful and considerate of the opinions of all individuals involved. Our University strongly encourages speech that adheres to this mode of discourse; and further identifies speech acts that fall short of these standards of civility to be antithetical to our Jesuit and intellectual commitments.

Fairfield's Intellectual Mission

Our mission statement identifies Fairfield University as a coeducational institution of higher learning committed to producing liberally educated persons able to assimilate and organize facts, to evaluate knowledge, to identify issues, and to use appropriate methods of reasoning. As a consequence, the free and rigorous exchange of ideas, debate, discussion, and disputation is vital to the intellectual mission of the University. However, such exchange ought to be grounded in and guided by the strictest standards of intellectual inquiry. Therefore, Fairfield University is a place where opinions are not just expressed, but tested and advanced through reason and study. We hold all speech on campus to this standard of rigorous intellectual inquiry; and see no place for discourse that directly challenges the values of intellectual inquiry expressed in the mission statement. We do not limit public discourse only to credentialed speakers, or those with formal training.

Respect for Basic Human Dignity

Our Jesuit mission acknowledges our obligation to respect the basic human dignity of all people, as we carry out our intellectual mission. Thus, we identify speech acts that denigrate the basic human dignity of members of our local and global community as both unwelcome and unprotected by free speech privileges on our campus.

Hate Speech

Hate speech, defined as any expression, spoken or written, in any public forum, which intimidates or threatens any group, or promotes violence against any group in the University community, contravenes the fundamental commitment of the University to the shared human dignity of all peoples, and is not acceptable at Fairfield.

Fairfield University's Jesuit Mission

Fairfield University's principles that guide free expression have as their foundation our Jesuit Catholic mission. As stated in our mission, "Fairfield University, founded by the Society of Jesus, is a Catholic institution of higher learning devoted to developing the creative intellectual potential of its students and fostering in them ethical and religious values and a sense of social responsibility. Jesuit education, which began in 1547, is committed today to the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement. Fairfield University is Catholic in both tradition and spirit. It celebrates the God-given dignity of every human person. It therefore welcomes those of all beliefs and traditions who share its concerns for scholarship, justice, truth, and freedom, and it values the diversity which their membership brings to the University community. Strong differences of outlook and opinion are the lifeblood of an intellectual community, and Fairfield welcomes any and every voice that respects the basic human dignity of all people."

Adapted from the work of the Provost's Task Force on Free Expression:
Kris Sealey (Coordinator)
William Abbott
Gayle Alberda
Catherine Giapponi
Alison Kris
Paul Lakeland
Jamie MacBeth
Thomas Murray
Nels Pearson
Adam Rugg
Stephanie Storms
Endorsed by the Board of Trustees (November 2018) and the Academic Council (April 2019).

Four strategic priorities drive Fairfield University. Amid the powerful forces shaping higher education today, we strive to ensure the transformative learning experiences necessary for our students to meet the world as it is and will be. Chief among these interconnected forces are:

• Demographic changes, including a steady decline in the college-aged population
• The economics of supply and demand coupled with the economics of the labor market that will increase the cost of delivering a college education
• Advances in technology, particularly related to expanding the graduate student market

Overall, demographic trends forecast shrinking demand for the expansive and expensive supply of higher education as it races to keep up with rapid advances in technology. These forces, decades in the making, currently compound each other to create pressures that threaten the existence of certain institutions.

To meet these forces, Fairfield can harness its innovative spirit so that we can grow in reputation and national prominence, grow in connection with community and industry, and grow in educational offerings. Related to these growth avenues, four strategic priorities shape our collective pursuit over the next three to five years: preparing for the advent of big data, engaging industry and community partners, extending our geographic reach, and exploring new instructional modalities.

1. Big Data Advances in technology disrupt the world in which we live and work, as we become saturated in data. Fairfield already is responding to the need to educate students in interpreting and using big data to inform decision making. These include a slate of new programs related to data analysis. In addition to a new Master’s of Science in Marketing Analytics and Strategy in the Dolan School of Business, the School of Engineering has a set of five-year programs in Applied Data Analysis, including tracks in Psychology, Sociology, and Biology. We will build on this strength to position the School of Engineering as our nexus for big data in ways that will grow our reputation. Also essential to the School of Engineering’s growth will be increased emphasis on applied research through enhanced industry partnerships.
2. Industry and Community Partners Meaningful connections with community and industry partners in ways that shape our student learning experiences is an important differentiator for programs across the University. The College of Arts and Sciences’ Departments of Communication, Visual and Performing Arts, and English are developing opportunities for their students with an eye to engage industry partners in the field of media. The new Media Center represents one way that growth in communication and media studies will build Fairfield’s reputation and national prominence. The Center for Social Impact, among other Centers and Institutes, connects academics to the community to create deep, reciprocal, and sustainable partnerships grounded in shared mutual learning.
3. Geographic Expansion We will pilot opportunities to bring the excellence of a Fairfield education to new geographic areas around the United States. The Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies has, for instance, partnered with Creighton University on midwifery training. The Egan School also pioneers our efforts at geographic expansion as we look to establish our second-degree nursing program in an area of the country facing a nursing shortage. Moreover, we hope to use the learnings from the geographic expansion of nursing to identify other distinctive Fairfield programs well-suited to help meet urgent community needs around the country, and, in doing so, grow Fairfield’s impact. We have restructured Global Fairfield to advance our reach well beyond national borders to the international community.
4. New Modalities Our fourth strategic priority is to explore delivering a Fairfield education to new populations of graduate students through online and hybrid programs. Over the next five to seven years, we aim to build the infrastructure at Fairfield University to grow our graduate online program offerings from current programs serving approximately 100 students, to 15 to 20 programs serving approximately 2,000 students. The curricular development, vetting, approval, and delivery of these programs is being done by Fairfield faculty. To support our efforts to recruit and admit online learners, we are working with an online program manager for a specified time period. Simultaneously, we are building our internal capacity to develop, launch, and deliver online instruction. Critical to this effort are advanced capacities in marketing, recruitment, and admissions.

These four strategic priorities position Fairfield University to meet a daunting future, a situation which presents us with both the responsibility and opportunity to continue Fairfield’s growth trajectory. Emerging from our collective work, these priorities focus our efforts and broaden our horizons – positioning our School of Engineering as the nexus for big data and applied research; connecting with community and industry to enhance student learning through our Centers and Institutes and in communication and media studies programs; expanding our geographic footprint, nationally through the Egan School, and internationally through Global Fairfield; and exploring new modalities as we enlist partners to help recruit and enroll students in our uniquely developed online graduate programs. These four guideposts will chart our course through uncertain times while we keep our eyes clearly set on the horizon, on the magis, as we always strive for the more.