At the University of Missouri’s campus in Columbia, protesters angry over racial incidents forced the president of the University of Missouri system, Timothy M. Wolfe, to resign last month. An assistant professor aligned with protesters blocked a student photographer from the protesters’ tent city, and the university police told students to report any hateful or hurtful speech they experienced, leaving the impression any comment considered offensive could be prosecuted as a crime.

The issue grew contentious on the University of Wisconsin’s main campus in Madison last month after Chancellor Rebecca M. Blank wrote in her blog that no one is entitled to express beliefs in ways that diminish others. Ms. Blank said later that she had just been trying to encourage civility.

Another Wisconsin regent, Tim Higgins, and faculty members began developing the resolution in May, following the lead of the University of Chicago and Purdue University in Indiana. The president of the Board of Regents, Regina Millner, said the measure had not been inspired by any recent events but was intended to reassure faculty members that they would still enjoy academic freedom as the board drafted new tenure policies.

Ms. Millner pointed out that the regents had reaffirmed their commitment to free speech seven times since 1922 and said students must find the strength to listen to viewpoints they did not share.

Charles Pruitt and José Vásquez were the only regents who voted against the measure. Mr. Pruitt said he did not think it had been fully thought through. Mr. Vásquez said he did not see any problems with how people expressed themselves on the university’s campuses before the resolution.