Letter to Concordia Wisconsin on Gregory Schulz
Rev. Dr. Schulz suspended for criticizing university’s “wokeness”
PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) sent a letter today to Concordia University Wisconsin regarding Rev. Dr. Gregory Schulz, a tenured professor of philosophy who has been suspended and prohibited from entering campus for publishing content critical of the university. On February 14, 2022, he published an article at the Christian News website on “Woke Dysphoria at Concordia.” The article critiques the general “influence of Woke-ism” and is critical in particular of the presidential search for a “disruptive” candidate at Concordia University Wisconsin and the potential conflict between “the Woke agenda” and Lutheran traditions and commitments.
“I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Alliance to express our firm view that Professor Schulz should suffer no formal consequences as the result of this published article,” wrote Keith Whittington, chair of the AFA’s academic committee, in the letter to President William Cario. “For Concordia University Wisconsin to punish Professor Schulz for engaging in a public discussion of matters of church principles and university governance would have a profound chilling effect on open discourse by professors on this campus and through the Concordia University system. There is no question that such public speech is fully protected by traditional principles of academic freedom.”
Rev. Dr. Schulz is being represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on a pro bono basis.
Additional resources:
- The AFA’s letter to Concordia University Wisconsin
- Prof. Schulz’s critical op-ed regarding the university’s “wokism”
- Local press coverage of the case
- Prof. Schulz’s personal website
The Academic Freedom Alliance is a diverse alliance of college and university faculty members who are dedicated to upholding the principles of academic freedom and professorial free speech. These principles are central to the mission of our institutions of higher education for the pursuit of truth and knowledge. The AFA is committed to defending universal principles of academic freedom and will come to the assistance of professors regardless of their individual views. As always, the AFA is not concerned with the substance or merits of a professor’s ideas but with the principle that universities should be places that tolerate controversial ideas and allow free inquiry and debate, not public opinion or political pressure, to separate error from truth.