Our Mission

The mission of the MIT Free Speech Alliance is to promote free expression, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and open scientific inquiry, without regard to partisanship or ideology. Through the execution of our mission we aim to build community around a shared commitment to free expression at MIT and promote an institutional culture supportive of open inquiry. We aim to fulfill our mission through a variety of initiatives and activities including:

• Advocating for the adoption of speech-protective policies for students and faculty at MIT and for the reform or elimination of restrictive speech policies inimical to MIT’s free expression commitments;


• Organizing campus and community events, including conferences, lectures, and debates, that bring MIT community members together for discussion and engagement on matters of free expression and provides a model for civil dialogue on difficult and controversial issues;


• Providing both financial and in-kind support for MIT student and faculty initiatives promoting the values of free expression in addition to MFSA’s original programming;


• Defending the rights of MIT students and faculty who are wrongly censored or sanctioned for the protected expression of their viewpoints; 


• Promoting education on the history, philosophy, and law of free expression in a manner that strengthens community members’ intellectual foundations and better equips them to fully participate as members of a diverse, pluralistic society.