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.

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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.

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