On Oct. 22, approximately 100 Colgate University alumni and friends made their way to Chicago’s Newberry Library, just across Walton Street from the legendary Bughouse Square — once America’s most celebrated outdoor free speech center. It was a fitting location for what would unfold: a robust discussion between Colgate President Brian W. Casey and Tony Banout, inaugural executive director of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression at the University of Chicago and board member of the Heterodox Academy. Their topic was the future of discourse and debate on their respective campuses.
The event also provided an opportunity for Casey to announce Colgate’s commitment to establish the Colgate Union, a nonpartisan program for studying and practicing open inquiry, dialogue, and debate, modeled after the Oxford Union and other university-based centers for discussion and debate.
The foundation of the Colgate Union will be Colgate’s 2018 Report on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, which argues that rigorous dialogue and debate don’t undercut community but are necessary for it.
The Founding Vision
The Colgate Union will be supported by physical spaces, located in the West Campus — including Hurley House, soon to be a residential community on Broad Street, where students interested in debate and free expression will live together and support programming across the campus in civic dialogue, discussion, and debate. For more than a year, Casey has been meeting with faculty members, students, and alumni to develop the vision for the Colgate Union.
Becky Hurley ʼ81, P’12,’12, former Colgate trustee and member of the Task Force on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, welcomed the assembled guests. She described the years she has spent with her husband, Chris ʼ81, P’12,’12, nurturing civil discourse within the Colgate community. Their journey began in 2006, hosting intellectual salons in Chicago — evenings spent debating current events with Colgate faculty like Professor Tim Byrnes. The Hurleys also established the Hurley Family Chair for Dialogue, Deliberation, and Decision Making, which is held by Professor Spencer Kelly.
The Hurleys have been instrumental partners in this effort. Their gift of $10 million, announced at Reunion 2025, will fund the future Hurley House. This residential building will contain seminar rooms for discussion and debates, a dining room and kitchen to host gatherings, and living spaces for students committed to the principles of Colgate’s 2018 statement.
Developing the Program
During the Chicago evening, Casey and Banout engaged in a lively discussion about academic freedom and free speech at Colgate and the University of Chicago, and they compared the Chicago Principles on Free Speech with Colgate’s own Report on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression. They also spoke about how a “union” — a set of spaces and programs built on Colgate’s speech principles — might operate at Colgate. The conversation emphasized that the Colgate Union, in its final form, should be a living laboratory where students practice the art of civil discourse on difficult topics, rather than just a venue for performative debates.
Casey emphasized that the Colgate Union must have a central role for students, with students identifying the pressing issues for campus discourse. “Far better to have the students tell me what’s on their mind, what’s difficult, and have them come up with the topics that we, as this campus, are going to take on,” Casey said.
A Universitywide Endeavor
With the inauguration of the Colgate Union idea through Hurley House, Colgate will create programs and spaces where students, faculty, and staff (and eventually alumni) can practice rigorous discourse, develop skills in public engagement of issues, and build community through a shared commitment to the deep exploration of ideas.
“Through the Colgate Union, community members will emerge from substantive debates more respectful of each other and more conscious of the power and responsibilities that come from the rigorous exploration of big ideas and complex issues,” said Casey.
It will take the collective generosity of the entire Colgate community, including alumni, parents, and friends of the University, to assist in the effort. There is much to build on — with a history not only of the University’s statement on free speech, but also various practices and programs in which faculty and students take up complex and sometimes challenging topics.
“We are deeply grateful to the Hurley family for their visionary investment seeding this important program in this critical moment for our nation,” offered Kim Harris, vice president for advancement. “We will now turn to other alumni, parents, and friends to build upon that generosity as support for programmatic elements comes into sight. As President Casey has noted, the Colgate Union enhances community, and we must come together in community to continue to bring this vision to life on our campus.”
— Photo by Jason Smith