The Virginia Tech Chapter of the AAUP supports peaceful protest and the robust expression of 1st Amendment rights and of contractual rights including academic freedom of students, faculty, and staff. In addition, it rejects abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice on the basis of culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or similar grounds. We support the Supreme Court decision as expressed in Healy v. James which reads, “the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools.” And we urge Virginia Tech to do all that it can to defend and foster respectful debate, support dissenting voices, and to model ways for Virginia Tech students to understand diverse and sometimes competing perspectives and views in a peaceful yet pluralistic society.