SDSU may revoke mandatory land acknowledgment policy amid complaints, legal concerns

A policy at San Diego State University that requires professors to include a “land acknowledgment” on their syllabus has prompted frustration and concerns that it violates academic freedom and compels speech.

At its March 1 meeting, the faculty senate “will discuss revising the policy language to remove the requirement,” La Monica Everett-Haynes, associate vice president of strategic communications at SDSU, told The College Fix in an email.

The decision to review it comes after the higher education watchdog group, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, sent SDSU President Adela de la Torre a letter on Jan. 17 expressing concerns that the mandate violates the First Amendment and called for its removal.

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In its letter, FIRE argued requiring such a statement is a “mandatory pledge of personal beliefs.”

“While the university is free to encourage faculty to adopt such statements, and academic freedom would protect the right of faculty to adopt such statements if administrators were opposed to them, a mandate amounts to compelled speech in violation of SDSU’s obligations under the First Amendment,” wrote FIRE litigation fellow Jeff Zeman.