Colleen Hanycz has focused on the intersection of individual speech and institutional neutrality over the 17 years she has served as a college president. With America’s political divisions widening, it’s paramount that campuses provide students—but not their leaders—with space to speak up.
“I’m trying to build that muscle on the campus, and I think that flies in the face of some of the critique that we’re getting in higher ed right now, some of which I believe is justified, about universities taking a strong political view and not allowing room for any dialogue.”
The four-year president of Ohio’s Xavier University has been vocal about not being vocal, recently writing in The Hill about the virtues of institutional neutrality. Her stance has been tested by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, student visa revocations and comments about making Canada the 51st state.
“It’s an interesting time to be a Canadian green card holder in this country right now and to see some of the changes in the relationship that we have as Americans with our allies.”
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Hanycz concedes that, despite one’s best intentions, curating spaces for civil dialogue risks igniting controversy in today’s digital age. A single phrase or opinion can be rapidly amplified and stripped of context, distorting its original intent and fueling misinformation.
“We are in such trouble as a country if this is how we’re going to allow young people to continue consuming media,” she says. “We need to make sure they do a better job than the adults right now, interacting with people who have very different ideas. That’s what I’m trying to do at this university.”
Direct attacks on a university’s integrity, mission or community are exceptions Hanycz takes to institutional neutrality.
Here, Hanycz describes an incident where she had to step in and publicly defend Xavier’s reputation.
Hanycz’s focus on curating a campus space for “wickedly uncomfortable conversations” is meant to foster civil dialogue among students with varying beliefs, a core tenet for most faith-based institutions. It’s an objective inextricably linked to the core mission at Xavier: to serve as a leader in a diverse community, Hanycz says.
“You need to look around and leave the world better and stronger than how you found it. That’s your job; it’s just an expectation. You need to look back over your life at the end of it and say, ‘I made it better.'”
