Letter to the Editor/ FREE SPEECH AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Roger C. Kostmayer

The purpose of higher education is to teach students to think critically, not what it would be most comfortable for them to learn.  If excellence in education is important, and it is, the process should be rigorous, objective and include both pleasant and unpleasant facts, realities and opinions.

In recent years students at some of our elite colleges and universities demanded “protection” from ideas that might make them uncomfortable.  It’s as if they were saying “teach me (and treat me) only in ways with which I agree”.  This may sound empathic and supportive – but it’s absurd.  For example, Harvard Law School students demanded that certain parts of Criminal Law, such as rape, not be discussed because it could be painful for some students. Students demanded that certain scheduled speakers, like former Secretary of State Condi Rice, be cancelled because some students disagreed with them.  Then students insisted on “trigger warnings” from faculty so students could avoid hearing anything about which they may be sensitive, and that was followed by University presidents agreeing to provide intellectual “safe spaces” so students would have “comfort zones”.  Are the inmates running the asylum?

This isn’t a left versus right or a political correctness conflict.  This issue is about freedom of speech, academic freedom for faculty and the role of higher education.  On a hopeful note, the University of Chicago just released a letter to its students saying:  We don’t support trigger warnings, canceling speakers because they might be controversial, or providing safe spaces.

Perhaps other colleges and universities will follow and refocus on their critically important mission – education excellence.

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