![Penn joins Harvard in banning sociopolitical speech](https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/ca._upenn100558928-u-penn-gettyp.jpg?w=1440&h=880&crop=1)
The University of Pennsylvania joined Harvard University in ending sociopolitical statements, introducing a new policy following the resignation of the school’s president and police removing a pro-Palestinian encampment.
The news of the decision was announced Tuesday by the school’s administrators, when they informed the campus community that the school will stop issuing statements in response to world and local events, except “those which have direct and significant bearing on University functions.”
“It is not the role of the institution to render opinions — doing so risks suppressing the creativity and academic freedom of our faculty and students,” the Ivy League school’s administrators wrote in a statement that was emailed to the university community.
“Even as they seem to provide emotional support to individuals in our communities, institutional pronouncements undermine the diversity of thought that strengthens us and that is central to our missions,” the administrators said.
The school’s new approach comes as the school’s previous president, Liz Magill, resigned in early December last year after the criticism she received for her comments during a House hearing on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.