The Berkeley Liberty Initiative (BLI) is dedicated to promoting the principles of respectful dialogue and open exchange of ideas at UC Berkeley. These principles are central to the university’s mission of generating and disseminating knowledge and crucial for fostering an environment where students, faculty, and the broader community can explore, debate, and challenge ideas.
BLI is committed to creating a campus culture that values respectful dialogue and engagement with diverse perspectives. Central to its non-partisan mission is enhancing the quality of research, learning, and teaching by fostering a culture of openness, where differing viewpoints are welcomed, understood, and explored.
At a time when open discourse on university campuses faces internal and external threats, public trust in higher education is waning, and political violence erodes the foundations of a democratic society, our work has never been more critical.
Mission Statement
The Berkeley Liberty Initiative (BLI) fosters a campus culture that embraces learning through respectful open dialogue and engagement with diverse viewpoints. The BLI’s mission is to create an environment in which the constructive collision of ideas thrives, especially on topics of social, cultural, and political importance, across campus and beyond.
