News:

Pace University is discouraging its professors from engaging in political conversations within their classrooms during the upcoming elections.

Assistant Vice President of Government and Community Relations at Pace, Vanessa J. Herman sent an email to the deans and department chairs on July 22, with a memo from the American Counsel on Education regarding “political campaign-related activities on campus.”

The memo states the political “activities” that are either permitted or prohibited on campus.

According to the memo, those prohibited activities include publishing the ratings of candidates, expressing or implying endorsement of candidates, encouraging voting in regards to specific issues, and “commenting on specific actions, statements, or positions taken by candidates.”

Letter to the Editor:

I was disappointed to read the September 7, 2016 article titled “Pace University Tries to Limit Academic Freedoms on Campus.” The University is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable corporation and therefore, in order to retain its tax exempt status, it must comply with Internal Revenue Service regulations that apply to all exempt charities, including the requirement that the University and employees acting on its behalf, refrain from engaging in the prohibited political activities. Neither the IRS regulations nor Pace policies prohibit University employees from engaging in political activities as individuals as long as they do not use University property or resources (e.g. letterhead, pace.edu email) and further, as long as they make it clear that they are speaking, writing and acting as individuals and not on behalf of the University.

For reference, a copy of the ACE memo can be found here. As always, the Office of Government and Community Relations is here to assist faculty, students and staff to ensure all appropriate lobbying regulations and political campaign related activity protocols are followed. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Sincerely,

Vanessa J. Herman
Assistant Vice President,
Government & Community Relations