Freedom of expression is imperiled on today’s college campuses. Citizens and educators alike are concerned about the number of shout-downs and disinvitations and their silencing effect on intellectual diversity. The use of speech codes, “safe spaces,” new rules demanding “trigger warnings,” and condemning “micro-aggressions” raises the specter of some new and unforeseen force in our history, where mere ideas are considered offensive and dangerous. In a fresh, analytically rich essay, Campus Intolerance, Then & Now: The Influence of Marcusian Ideology, scholar Guenter Lewy examines the ways in which history is repeating itself and helps readers understand the philosophical underpinnings of today’s campus difficulties. He explores in detail how “[w]hen today’s students identify speech as violence and feel they can meet it with coercion, they are echoing Herbert Marcuse.” The essay brings to light the effects of a philosophical ideology and, in so doing, empowers campus communities to address problems in more effective ways.
A committee of faculty members from across the University of Chicago was convened by President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Eric D. Isaacs, chaired by Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law. They were charged with crafting a statement “articulating the University’s overarching commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation […]
Higher education continues to grapple with issues surrounding free expression within the academy—and the actions that protect or degrade it. From colleges and universities that adopt the Chicago Principles for freedom of expression, to those that enforce “safe spaces” and speech codes on campus, there is a tug of war over the safeguarding of viewpoint diversity […]
ACTA’s new guide for higher education trustees, Guarding the Freedom to Speak, Freedom to Hear by Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, provides best practices to boards of trustees for securing intellectual freedom on the American college campus. It couldn’t have come a moment too soon. Since 2016 […]
The Mississippi House of Representatives adopted a bill today to protect the rights of college students to speak freely about the causes and issues they hold dear. The bill codifies existing federal case law for the state of Mississippi to avoid expensive litigation for public universities and colleges. “The last place on earth we should […]
Andrew Hartman’s argument in his March 18 Outlook essay, “There is no campus crisis, there are only aggrieved customers,” foundered in the face of data and facts. A 2016 Gallup survey revealed that 27 percent of college students deem it acceptable to censor political speech if they “are upsetting or offensive to certain groups.” Results […]
Common gumption would dictate that colleges and universities foster environments that promote “free and open inquiry in all matters,” and guarantee “the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.” Too many higher education administrators today, however, are afraid to endorse such principles, principles clearly articulated in what is known as the “Chicago Statement.” These […]
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