President Helble addresses Faculty Senate about event backlash

At the Lehigh Faculty Senate meeting on Friday, President Joseph Helble defended his decision to proceed with a campus panel on academic freedom held earlier last week after receiving thousands of emails urging him to cancel the event. 

Helble also addressed potential threats to university funding from federal policy changes, and faculty members discussed the possible digitization of university IDs and structure changes to the Student Conduct Committee. 

Event backlash

A university-sponsored panel entitled “Academic Freedom in Times of Crisis” was held on March 31 and featured Maura Finkelstein, a former tenured Muhlenberg College professor who was fired for posting anti-Zionist rhetoric. At the senate meeting, Helble said he received more than 10,000 emails from students and alumni imploring him to cancel the event. 

However, Helble said he chose not to cancel the event and instead turned the talk into a panel featuring Finkelstein, Provost Nathan Urban and sociology professor Ziad Munson.

“Would I have invited her to speak? Probably not,” Helble said. “But it’s not a good precedent for a university to set cancelling speakers.” 

He said he believes in academic freedom but is also cognizant of the significant amount of feedback he was receiving. 

The event, which was held in the Rauch Business Center, had armed officers positioned around the exterior of the building and inside the panel room. Any person attending also had to present a Lehigh ID to a LUPD officer to gain access. 

Seth Moglen, a professor of English, Africana studies and American studies, raised concerns about the large police presence at the panel.  

In response, Helble said an additional event hosted by the Student Political Action Coalition with Finkelstein the following day was adjusted to reflect the community’s concerns by limiting police presence.  

“We got it wrong on Monday, but the police presence was pulled back Tuesday due to that feedback,” he said. 

Helble said while the panel sparked pushback, he believes he made the right decision in finding a middle ground, while also protecting academic freedom.

Impacts of federal policy changes on university funding 

Helble discussed the potential impacts of changing federal policies on the university. He said Lehigh’s administration has a working group that is tracking changes to federal policy and executive orders impacting higher education. He said the group is led by Dominic Packer, associate vice provost for research.

Helble also said there is an effort from the federal government to tax private university endowments at the corporate tax rate of 21%, which he estimated would cost the university $20 million per year. 

If this were to occur, he said, the university would have to cut its current budget. He said he’s had many conversations with local representatives regarding this possible taxation, and the response he’s received is that this issue is something the federal administration is prioritizing.  

Helble said there is also a potential threat to the $50 million worth of federal funding Lehigh receives annually, which makes up 10% of the university’s annual budget. This federal funding is independent of the research grants, which he said total $10 million and might also be in jeopardy due to efforts to cut research funding. 

Helble also addressed the senate to make note of the university’s recent accomplishments, including Lehigh’s designation as an R1 research university, and to highlight the incoming class of first-years in the fall. 

He said the fall 2025 applicant class was the second largest in the university’s history, with students applying from all 50 states and 139 different countries. He also said there was a 74% increase in the number of doctoral applicants for the upcoming school year. 

Transition to digitized IDs

Chris Cook, interim vice president of finance and administration, proposed LehighPass, a potential change to student IDs at the meeting. 

 Cook said LehighPass would allow students to move their Lehigh IDs onto their mobile devices through an app. She said the app would have the same functionality as the physical IDs, including building access and meal swipes. 

While the app would be available for various mobile operating systems, Cook said it would not be required to download, and plastic ID cards would still be available. However, she said a student would not be able to have both a physical ID and LehighPass, as this would allow multiple avenues of access for one student, which might lead to security concerns.

She said if someone’s phone were to die, the technology would still allow students to scan into a building up to six hours after a device is dead due to lasting charge. 

Cook also said the transition to a mobile app would cut down on plastic use and decrease the number of calls made to the Lehigh University Police Department when students are locked out of their on-campus housing. 

“Students may lose their IDs, but they normally don’t lose their phones,” she said. 

Statistics provided by LUPD at the meeting showcased the evidence to support this claim, outlining a large call dropoff if IDs went digital, which might lead to a better use of LUPD’s resources. 

Economics professor Frank Gunter said he was concerned about the app causing more division within the student body.  

“This program could create a class division of our student body which is very visible — those with physical cards and those without,” he said.  

Cook said that potential would be considered before officially enacting the program. 

Another concern was voiced by Peter Zeitler, chair of the senate, who said he was worried about what would happen if someone lost their phone. 

Cook responded and said a student would follow the current procedure by contacting the IDEAL office to be issued a physical ID to use temporarily until they recover or replace their lost phone.

Cook also said the program is still in its testing phase, but it could be enacted within the next year if the legislation passes in a future senate vote.

Structure changes to the Student Conduct Committee 

The senate also discussed and voted on a proposed change to the structure of the Student Conduct Committee. The discussion was initiated by Zeitler. 

The proposed change included the committee having two faculty members elected from each undergraduate college, four faculty members elected by the faculty at-large, 10 to 15 undergraduate students and three to five graduate students chosen by the Dean of Students office. 

This proposed change passed by a majority vote.