Stetson’s Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series was started in January 2025 to enable open dialogue about a wide variety of timely topics through national speakers, panel discussions and civil discourse.

Thanks to initial success, the series has continued this fall with events for students, faculty and staff, as well as the community. (Cultural Credit is available for students.)

Historically, Stetson has been committed to free expression, and recent affirmations of a formal commitment can be traced back to spring 2019, when faculty and staff in DeLand and at the College of Law in Gulfport drafted a statement of principles of free expression, which was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees.

In July 2024, President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, joined 70 other college presidents of institutions nationwide to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens, as well as to uphold free expression on campus. The commitments were made through College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a consortium designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. (See the 2025 College Presidents for Civic Preparedness Impact Report.)

Additionally, in summer 2024 Stetson participated by invitation in the inaugural Academic Freedom Institute at the University of Chicago, where universities were tasked with identifying their institutional structures for academic freedom and developing ongoing plans for embracing both free speech and inclusive excellence. This June, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kyle Longest, PhD, and David Hill, PhD, professor of Political Science, were in Chicago for the second Academic Freedom Institute. There, they joined representatives from a broad spectrum of colleges and universities — from Harvard and Dartmouth to Virginia Tech and Baylor to Ball State and the College of Charleston — and engaged in discussions regarding the “current challenges around this idea of academic freedom, freedom of expression and institutional neutrality,” Longest stated.

President Roellke’s view: “Without the free exchange of ideas and the ability to engage in civil and productive discourse, the power of education is compromised. It was not difficult for me to stand strong on these convictions, as they are so fundamental to the educational enterprise and so vital to the personal and intellectual growth of our students.”

Now, discussions continue on the campus. Next on the series is William B. Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who on Nov. 18 will discuss the changing American policy toward Russia.

Free Inquiry & Expression and the Future of Democracy Series, Fall 2025

(Events are subject to change.)

Russia, Ukraine and European Regional Security, 1990s to Today — A Conversation with Former Ukrainian Ambassador William B. Taylor

This event, sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Society student organization, features William B. Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor will speak about the changing American policy toward Russia, as well as the threats posed by Russia to the free world and democracy since the Soviet Union’s fall.

-Michael Candelaria