Vanderbilt’s Bold Stand for ‘Neutrality’ - Commentary

Lamar Alexander, former president of the University of Tennessee (1988-91), U.S. education secretary (1991-93), and U.S. senator from Tennessee (2003-21), writes:  When the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, the University of California’s president denounced the decision as “antithetical” to UC’s values. Vanderbilt University’s new chancellor took a different approach. Daniel Diermeier, who was appointed in 2020, reaffirmed Vanderbilt’s commitment to “principled neutrality,” in which the college and its leadership refrain from taking positions on controversial issues that don’t directly relate to the function of the university.