2025 Wrapped

Dear Fellow Davidsonian,

Happy New Year to all, and many thanks to those of you who have supported us this past year! We especially appreciate your financial support of DFTD and greatly need it if we are to continue our work.

For DFTD to be successful in ensuring Freedom of Thought & Discourse, we need to ensure students can learn from each other while comfortably exchanging ideas. Students need to be educated on how to think, not what to think. We have watched and quantified how the progressive and now illegal DEI policies disable Davidson’s long-standing values of honor, integrity, and academic rigor.

Regrettably, freedom of speech and expression of ideas is not a given at Davidson or on most college campuses. It will take loyal alumni to protect these values, which is why we were a founding member of AFSA (Alumni Free Speech Association), a group that has grown to include more than 30 coalitions of alumni advocating for freedom of expression at their respective alma maters.

These alumni groups include those from UNC, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, MIT, Princeton, Williams, Dartmouth, UVA, Berkeley, Yale, Furman, Chicago, and many more. On our sister campuses, we’ve seen the toppling of 5 college Presidents, robust DOJ investigations, new civic institutions embedded in many, and incredibly strong alumni support. What is happening nationally through AFSA underscores the power of alumni engagement.

WE’VE HAD SOME MAJOR 2025 ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• DFTD helped to establish a group of students form a free speech group, and gave students the confidence to launch other new student organizations. One such group won the Young Americans for Freedom 2025 national Rookie Chapter of the Year award. A new Turning Point USA chapter at Davidson was also created in 2025. Students are feeling the freedom to be bold because of us!

• DFTD successfully influenced the Administration to reform the hiring practices of all faculty and instructional staff. This included much-needed revised language in all Davidson College job postings so they would no longer have mandatory DEI statements and requirements that would be a deterrent for many potential applicants. We brought back true balance and meritocracy to the employment process.

• DFTD, joined by FIRE, successfully advocated for the free speech rights of both an individual and a student organization facing harsh sanctions related to an alleged anonymous report of a harassment policy violation. While the student was never publicly exonerated, the issue was resolved without penalty to the individual or group. We privately advised the administration to take a different path in announcing the resolution, but when they did not, Davidson’s treatment of this issue received negative national publicity-even Elon Musk tweeted about it! 

• We awarded the Robert Murray Scholarship for Excellence in Free Expression, granting three students $5,000 scholarships for the 2025–26 academic year in recognition of their commitment to open inquiry and free expression. Applications open annually in the spring.

• We hired 2 student interns to work with DFTD staff to support event efforts and research. One of last year’s interns joined the Heritage Foundation directly after graduation, inspired by her work with us.

• DFTD hosted, and 4 members of DFTD and 2 current students were featured speakers at the 2025 AFSA National Summit held in Charlotte, NC. 

• DFTD expanded campus programming during the 2025 academic year by partnering with three student organizations to sponsor five guest speakers and two public debates, broadening the range of viewpoints represented in campus dialogue. (Past event recordings can be found at dftdunite.org/events) Some of our generous supporters sponsored a particular speaker, a wonderful way to target your donations if you choose! 

• Many of you participated in a survey of DFTD supporters to help guide the path for DFTD initiatives. We will act on many of your suggestions.

• We developed and distributed educational resources on free expression, academic freedom, and civil discourse tailored specifically to Davidson College policies and student life. This gives students a better understanding of their rights as students, the importance of free speech, and how to navigate if an issue does arise.

• DFTD Board members joined other AFSA and civic groups at a US Congress in a roundtable discussion of free speech issues on college campuses throughout the United States. The roundtable was hosted by Davidson Alumnus Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. ‘85. [Watch the replay]

• In 2025, we expanded our audience across all platforms by more than 35%, with a total of over 1,350 alumni, students, faculty, and staff hearing from DFTD. Our message is spreading! Help us reach more alumni by forwarding this email to fellow wildcats.

OUTSIDE & INSIDE ENTITIES SEE THE LACK OF FREE SPEECH AT DAVIDSON:

Despite all DFTD has tried to do since its founding in 2019 to address free speech issues, in 2025, Davidson was given yet another poor free speech rating by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Davidson has repeatedly been given consecutive D ratings for its institutional failure in promoting and protecting free speech on campus. Even worse, in 2025, the prestigious Manhattan Institute gave Davidson a failing grade of 51/100 in its ability to protect student free speech based on its own independent research and survey. 

Interestingly, and at great expense, the College conducted its own survey in 2025 of faculty and students on these free speech issues, but has yet to publicly release the results. Why not? Despite having criticized the methodology of the independent surveys cited, we suspect the College’s own surveys have revealed similar systemic issues, and the Administration does not want to acknowledge that those on its campus feel the restrictive pressure.

OUR WORK CONTINUES:

In 2026, we hope to continue to build on these successes and will continue to apprise you of our efforts in our Newsletters and through emails like this one. We have ambitious goals for 2026 including:

• Encouraging President Hicks to agree to Institutional Neutrality, something 41 other colleges/universities have already implemented.

• Advocating for the removal the anonymous bias reporting system, currently stifling free speech at Davidson and on approximately 1300 other campuses across the US.

• Increasing the ideological balance of Professors and Administrators at the college by partnering with the Heterodox Academy, a nationwide group of professors who have signed up to support free speech.

• Continuing to bring inspirational speakers and debates to campus. Some of you supported key speakers last year, a wonderful way to target your donation.

• Shining the light on the skyrocketing costs & expenses caused by the growth of a bloated administration and DEI that has now brought the yearly tuition up a whopping $92,500 per year.

• Finally, working to uncover why 75% of 2024 graduates achieved cum laude or above and pushing to ensure that all classes are of the highest academic standards, preparing students for professional success.

There is still much work to be done. Join us!

Board of Directors

Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse