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    Commentary: In Defense of Free Speech and the Mission of the University

    February 28, 2024 1 min read

    3 Comments

    Robert P. George
    Public Discourse, Witherspoon Institute

    Excerpt: My friend and former student Yoram Hazony has argued in Public Discourse that it’s time for universities to abandon any commitment to “absolute free speech.” In light of rampant expressions of anti-Semitism on university campuses since the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, Yoram thinks universities should forbid and punish the expression or advocacy of certain ideas or positions by students and faculty, and “suspend” or “terminate” those who, for example, advocate genocide.

    Yoram suggests that I and others—especially my friend Jonathan Haidt—have been “reduced” to defending a “fundamentally wrongheaded” pro–free speech view. Here I will explain why I persist in believing that the research and teaching missions of nonsectarian colleges and universities, such as the one at which Yoram was a student and at which I teach, are best served by the most robust commitment to freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression.

    Click here for link to full article

    3 Responses

    carenewsweb
    carenewsweb

    March 12, 2024

    Agreed. Free speech must not be limited in the academy. Ideas, all ideas, no matter how evil they may appear to some, should be free to be openly debated wherever questions, not answers, are cherished. https://carenewsweb.com/heart-evangelista-and-her-glam-team-controversy-unveiled/

    carenewsweb
    carenewsweb

    March 12, 2024

    https://carenewsweb.com/heart-evangelista-and-her-glam-team-controversy-unveiled/

    Ron Innerfield
    Ron Innerfield

    March 02, 2024

    Agreed. Free speech must not be limited in the academy. Ideas, all ideas, no matter how evil they may appear to some, should be free to be openly debated wherever questions, not answers, are cherished.

    Leave a comment

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