Moral controversies and academic public health: Notes on navigating and surviving academic freedom challenges

Viewpoint diversity in public health

“…With regard to religious identities, world-wide there are approximately 2.4 billion Christians world-wide, 1.9 billion Muslims, and billions of other faiths ( 24 ). Their beliefs are diverse, but many hold the positions that seem to be considered unacceptable within academic public health ( 4 ). Schools of public health have the option of working to oppose, suppress, and silence those beliefs; or may hope to change or convert them; or may acknowledge the disagreements and nevertheless find ways to work together in our various societies across the globe.…”

“…Clarity on such issues would help address the question of the extent to which a particular institution considers it acceptable to express viewpoints on moral controversies that constitute minority positions within public health, or to carry out related empirical research. The answers to these questions are not at present clear (4,12). If certain beliefs and ideas are not welcome, it would be good to have greater clarity on which are considered inadmissible.…”

“…It is not clear, for example, the extent to which those who hold minority perspectives on certain issues are allowed to express them within public health and still be treated civilly. Over the past months, the fact that I hold a number of unpopular minority viewpoints on controversial moral issues caused turmoil at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health ( 4 , 5 ). Others may hold positions that constitute minority viewpoints within academic public health because of different political commitments, religious commitments, or simply through independent thought.…”

“…This raises important questions concerning who is welcome to participate in academic public health, and in what manner. In this commentary, I would like to briefly offer thoughts on these questions, to argue for the value of intellectual diversity in academic public health, and to raise a number of the issues that I have discussed in greater and more personal detail elsewhere ( 4 ). Specifically, I will argue first that welcoming viewpoint diversity would contribute to the pursuit of knowledge; second, that there should be greater clarity within schools of public health as to which ideas, principles and beliefs, if any, are to be excluded because they incompatible with the mission of a school; and third, that welcoming viewpoint diversity will facilitate the training of public health leaders and academics who are able to serve the whole of society.…”