Mount Holyoke College: Event Hosts Must Recite Mandatory Land Acknowledgement as a Statement of Personal Beliefs
Cases
Mount Holyoke College
Case Overview
In Spring 2021, Mount Holyoke College adopted a land acknowledgement policy mandating that all hosts of college-affiliated events, on-campus or off, open with a scripted statement of the college鈥檚 stance on the historical ownership of the land where MHC sits. As the statement is written in the first person, it forces speakers to recite the land acknowledgement as if it reflects their own personal beliefs. FIREwrote Mount Holyoke on October 6, 2022, explaining that compelling students and faculty to recite college-prescribed ideology contradicts MHC鈥檚 clear and repeated promises to protect free expression. After MHC did not respond to 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 letter or subsequent November 2 email, FIREfiled a complaint on January 17, 2023 with MHC鈥檚 accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education. On May 2, the Commission responded but refused to take action, claiming the college鈥檚 actions did not violate its accreditation standard.