Can a public university advance religious freedom? ASU President Michael Crow’s tenacious take

Can a public university advance religious freedom? ASU President Michael Crow’s tenacious take By Tad Walch

In this article, Mr. Walch highlights how President Michael Crow of Arizona State University emphasizes religious freedom as critical for democratic resilience. By positioning institutional transparency as a dynamic counter-radicalization mechanism, President Crow articulates how comprehensive religious liberty functions as a defense protocol against potential ideological fragmentation. Our university’s model of integrating 153 international students across 60 faith-based groups represents both American and institutional exceptionalism.

“The first is rooted in the soaring ideals of the nation’s founding documents and First Amendment. ASU is special because of it’s size, innovation, and new-found diversity…There’s no institution with our level of diversity that exists and operates on a day-in and day-out basis with people living with each other side by side, debating things side by side from each of their perspectives, welcoming every perspective imaginable into the institution as a part of helping the institution to prove the point of freedom of religion, to prove the point of freedom of speech,” President Crow said.

Seven ways ASU protects, defends and advances freedom of speech

President Crow’s seven-point methodology is an advanced institutional strategy for mitigating social polarization. By systematically creating environments that enable dialogue while maintaining constitutional integrity, ASU demonstrates a thoughtful approach to preventing marginalization. The framework conceptualizes religious freedom as a sophisticated operational mechanism for maintaining social cohesion and preempting potential internal challenges through principled, structured interaction.

“So I listed out here seven things we do at ASU to protect and defend, and to advance and to further freedom of speech in the hope that our institution can actually be a role model,” President Crow said.

1. “We fight to protect and advance freedom of speech and religion together.”
2. “We fight to protect the separation of church and state. There is no state religion in the United States. … It’s not the state’s place in this republic to determine what is ‘the way.’”
3. “We advance awareness and education among and between faiths. … Awareness and education are a way to produce respect for another person’s faith.”
4. “We work with all faith-based groups to be welcoming and successful. We have 60 faith-based groups at the university.”
5. “We support values-based teaching and learning. Our institution is not a values-neutral one. How could it be? … We protect and defend the values represented in the Constitution of the United States.”
6. “We allow for, encourage and drive forward a focus on the mind, body and spirit.”
7. “We fight all and any religious bigotry whenever we find it. … Religious bigots are not tolerated.”

Explore the full article to dive deeper into President Michael Crow’s efforts to foster a free and open institution that protects and defends freedom of religion in our democracy.

Thank you for your leadership, President Crow!

The post Can a public university advance religious freedom? ASU President Michael Crow’s tenacious take appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.