Cheyney Ryan

Cheyney C. Ryan is an American philosopher, legal scholar, human rights educator, playwright and emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of Oregon.

He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict (ELAC) at the University of Oxford, where he is also a founding member of the institute. He is known for his work on nonviolence, pacifism, and the critique of just war theory. Ryan is the co-founder and co-chair of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights (OCHR), an international initiative committed to peacebuilding and rights-based education.

Ryan has awards for his academic and activist work, including the Joseph J. Blau Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Quinnipiac University, and recognition by The Washington Post as one of the leading scholars in peace and conflict studies. Both parents were deeply engaged in education and social justice, instilling in Ryan a lifelong commitment to activism and scholarship.

His political engagement began early: in 1963 he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in New York City, and later worked in antipoverty programs in Appalachian Kentucky. He participated in the 1966 March Against Fear in Mississippi and became active in anti–Vietnam War protests, including time spent working with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement.

Originally a student at Harvard University, Ryan was expelled in 1969 for his antiwar activities. He transferred to Boston University, where he studied with Howard Zinn, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Marx Wartofsky, laying the philosophical foundation for his later work on war, pacifism, and social responsibility.

Academic career

University of Oregon Ryan taught for many years at the University of Oregon, where he held dual appointments as Professor of Philosophy and Law. He co-founded both the Peace Studies Program and the Master’s Program in Conflict Resolution, integrating philosophy, ethics, and legal education. He also advised on matters of university policy, student rights, and legal accountability, becoming a nationally recognized voice on issues related to Title IX and university governance. His research focuses on war and peace, international ethics, personal responsibility, and the moral dimensions of conflict. He is also affiliated with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and the Institute for Advanced Studies at Loughborough University in the UK.

Oxford Consortium for Human Rights Cheyney Ryan co-founded the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights in 2010 along with Johanna Luttrell and Hugo Slim.

Scholarly work Cheyney Ryan has published two books and more than seventy academic articles, spanning topics in moral philosophy, international law, political theory, and American pragmatism.

His work has appeared in leading academic journals and anthologies and is widely cited in the fields of peace studies and global ethics. His earlier work, War, Sacrifice, and Personal Responsibility: The Chickenhawk Syndrome, explored the disconnect between civilian support for war and the moral obligations of participation, and remains a key text in discussions on responsibility in wartime democracies.

In 1983, Ryan’s article on pacifism was selected by The Philosopher’s Annual as one of the top ten philosophy articles of the year.

Student Rights and Free Speech Ryan has also been active in defending student rights, especially regarding freedom of speech and due process. In 2025, he authored an open letter criticizing the University of Oregon’s disciplinary actions against student protesters of the Gaza war, calling the university’s conduct "procedurally vague and legally questionable."

Political and Artistic Activism

Ryan’s academic life has always been informed by political engagement. In addition to his early civil rights and antiwar activism, he spent the 1980s and 1990s working on farmworker issues in the American West. He co-founded Teatro Adelante, a bilingual theater group that performed anti-pesticide educational plays throughout the West Coast. Their work was featured in over fifty media outlets, including NPR and PBS, and became the subject of multiple academic dissertations. He later co-wrote Holy Dirt with Marcos Martinez, a play produced throughout the U.S. and internationally. In the 1980s, he performed as a pianist in several political cabaret groups and once opened for the band Toto.

Awards

Joseph J. Blau Prize, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (2003) Human Rights Award, Oregon Human Rights Coalition Grassroots Award, National Funding Exchange