[shadowgovt]

There's some concern in some circles in the United States that universities have gotten into the habit of stifling speech on controversial topics.

The reality is a bit more complicated, but MIT is choosing to go out of its way to confirm that such stifling is not part of its principles.

The proof will be in the pudding... At the end of the day, a declaration of this sort only has value in so much as it shapes what the school practically chooses to do when one group on campus hosts a speaker and another group sets up a picket line to shut them down.