Seton Hall Faculty Inaugurate Prestigious HxA Campus Community

Earlier this year, Seton Hall faculty members were pleased to establish the inaugural Heterodox Academy (HxA) Campus Community at Seton Hall University, an initiative led by co-founders Anthony L. Haynor, Ph.D. and Mark Horowitz, Ph.D., both associate professors of sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences.

HxA campus communities are organized independently by individual faculty members at each organization under the umbrella of the national professional association, Heterodox Academy. The Seton Hall chapter is one of twenty-three inaugural campus communities that were announced by the non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering viewpoint diversity, open inquiry, and constructive disagreement in the academy.

The new HxA Campus Community at Seton Hall joins with a number of prestigious institutions in the Campus Communities Network, including Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; McGill; California-Berkeley; North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Virginia; and Loyola-Chicago. The umbrella organization has 5,400 members, including faculty, staff, and students. 

According to John Tomasi, President of Heterodox Academy, "The time is ripe for HxA to begin organizing for impact directly on campuses." The goal of the HxA Campus Communities is to bring about positive culture change through institutional practices that promote HxA values.

Haynor and Horowitz affirm the University’s Academic Freedom Beyond the Classroom statement, approved by the Board of Trustees, and note its alignment with Heterodox’s philosophy and the values of the Catholic tradition. 

"But the value of academic freedom, like other cherished values, is like the proverbial plant that always requires watering. There are significant cultural schisms in society today, as well as a crisis in trust in our major institutions, including academia. Building bridges across ideological and other lines is critically important in that context. Hence, the campus community is grounded in the principles we believe must be 'watered' and its formation is in no way advocated in a spirit critical of the University," said Haynor and Horowitz.

They note their hope that the Seton Hall community will support robust and respectful campus dialogues and inquiry into such polarizing issues as wealth inequality, ecological sustainability, secularism, colorblindness, sex differences, etc., providing space for viewpoints that run counter to prevailing currents of opinion.

Haynor and Horowitz encourage best practices in the classroom and university that promote the values of viewpoint diversity, open inquiry, and constructive disagreement. They encourage those interested in learning more about the HxA Campus Community to reach out to them. They hope future growth of the organization will cultivate trust, respect, and openness on campus as Seton Hall takes part in critical dialogues on 21st century challenges. 

This effort supports a collaborative campus culture for free speech, recognizing it is one governed by the core values of academic work: foundation in demonstrable facts, established methodologies, logical reasoning, openness to change, and civil discourse.

Categories: Campus Life, Education