One of the best things about my first year as President of Drake University was that it coincided with an Iowa caucus season. In July 2015, during my second week on campus, when I looked out onto the porch of Old Main and saw Gwen Iffil filming a segment for that evening’s broadcast of PBS ‘Newshour,’ I knew there was something special going on at Drake. That experience, in various forms, repeated itself many times over as we moved toward and experienced caucus night on February 1st. It was inspiring to see our University and our people right at the center of politics in Iowa.

We are now entering the home stretch for the presidential election and because Iowa is considered a swing state we can expect that the candidates will be spending time here leading up to November 8th. Given that Drake has become a regular stop on the campaign trail, we are anticipating requests from the candidates to hold events on our campus. Indeed, to this point we have encouraged and welcomed candidates from all parties to see Drake as the place for sharing their message and connecting with potential voters. However, due to the unusually high number of incidents of incivility that have marked this presidential election cycle our open door policy is being put to the test.

We greatly value that our community consists of people of different races, nationalities, religions, abilities, genders, ages, political perspectives, sexual orientation, and other diverse characteristics. We cherish and celebrate our differences, and we affirm and respect the dignity and freedom of every one of us and all who visit our campus. We abhor acts of oppression, discrimination, or intolerance, and those who commit these acts should expect strong and public censure by the administration, faculty, staff, and students.

As an institution of higher education, we uphold freedom of thought and freedom of expression as central to our mission. We therefore carefully refrain from restricting the exchange of ideas or regulating the content of speech. We realize that freedom of thought and freedom of expression can produce conflict and challenge, and thus we encourage civil debate and discussion of divergent perspectives and opinions in a manner that affirms our community.

The encouragement of civility does not mean that we will avoid public debate or suppress open and candid discussion of troubling and controversial issues. Nor will we seek to discourage or chill the expression of unpopular opinions or challenging perspectives. To preserve our central role as a public forum of ideas, Drake upholds the right of individuals to express unpopular and provocative viewpoints, including expression that may be dramatic, emotive, or imperfectly articulated. Indeed, this principle of free exchange and inquiry takes precedence because it is so fundamental to our educational enterprise. This remains true even when the exchange and inquiry may be difficult for some individuals or groups.

The content of the three preceding paragraphs largely comes from Drake University’s “Statement of Principles” which was adopted in 1992 . This statement has guided the University for twenty-four years when confronted with events that spark tension between our strongly-held values of inclusivity and freedom of thought and expression. This statement will guide us now through this presidential election season.

We will accommodate the requests of any of the presidential candidates who desire to hold an event on our campus. We will strongly encourage those candidates who visit Drake to share their message in a way that promotes civility and mutual respect, and that affirms the diversity of our community and of America. Any candidate who fails to meet these expectations can expect to be challenged by this administration and, I imagine, by many of you. This has been our practice for decades, and it will continue to be our practice.

I will close by expressing my gratitude to all of our colleagues who worked to make our Iowa caucus experience such a success, and who are ready to step up again over the next two months. Their efforts make it possible for all of us to experience the political process in a way that is simply not available anywhere else. Paraphrasing a KCCI broadcast from January, it is because of these wonderful colleagues that the political world orbits around Drake University.

—Marty Martin