Chancellor: Colleges Shouldn’t Take a Stand on Political or Social Issues

‘The purpose of the university is to encourage debate, not settle it,’ Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said during a panel discussion.

Graduating students chant as they leave their commencement ceremony in solidarity with 13 seniors who were not allowed to participate because of their protest activities at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on May 23, 2024. Charles Krupa/AP Photo

A pro-Palestinian student group at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee demanded that the school denounce, divest from, and cut any connections to Israel in December—to which Chancellor Daniel Diermeier promptly responded, “No.”

“I sent a letter [saying] that those demands are inconsistent with institutional neutrality,” Diermeier said, as he recalled the incident during an Oct. 22 panel discussion assembled by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in Washington.