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U.S. NEWS Friday 12 May 2017

Is free speech fading at colleges? Some defenders think so

By COLLIN BINKLEY Pew Research Center, for
Associated Press example, found that 40 per-
In campus clashes from cent of people ages 18 to
California to Vermont, 34 supported government
many defenders of the censorship of statements
First Amendment say they offensive to minorities. Only
see signs that free speech, 24 percent of people ages
once a bedrock value in 51 to 69 agreed.
academia, is losing ground The literary group PEN
as a priority at U.S. colleges. America has also warned
As protests have derailed free speech is being threat-
speeches by controversial ened at colleges.
figures, including an event As students and administra-
with Ann Coulter last month tors strive to make campus-
at the University of Califor- es more hospitable to di-
nia, Berkeley, some fear verse student bodies, some
students have come to see have wrongly silenced
the right to free expression speech that makes certain
less as an enshrined mea- students feel uncomfort-
sure of protection for all able, said Suzanne Nossel,
voices and more as a po- the group’s director.
litical weapon used against “The university has dual
them by provocateurs. imperatives. It has to be a
“I think minority groups and place that is welcoming
those who feel alienated In this March 2, 2017 photo, Middlebury College students turn their backs to Charles Murray, and open to students of all
are especially skeptical unseen, during his lecture in Middlebury, Vt. Hundreds of students protested his lecture, forcing backgrounds, cognizant
about free speech these the college to move his talk to an undisclosed campus location from which it was live-streamed of the barriers that impede
to the original venue. Since the beginning of 2016, more than two dozen campus speeches have
days,” said Jeffrey Herbst, been derailed amid controversy, according to the Foundation For Individual Rights In Education, students from marginalized
leader of the Newseum, a a group that monitors free speech on campuses. groups,” she said. “But that
Washington group that de- (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke) cannot and must not come
fends the First Amendment. While some cast the de- railed amid controversy, rupted or canceled amid at the expense of being
“But the powerful can get bate as a political battle, according to the Founda- student protests at the Uni- an open environment for
their message across any pitting protesters on the tion For Individual Rights In versity of Wisconsin, UC Da- speech.”
number of ways. It’s those left against conservative Education. vis, Brown University, New The events at Berkeley and
who feel powerless or alien- speakers on the right, First In many cases , speakers York University and DePaul Middlebury have drawn
ated who really benefit Amendment advocates have been targeted for University, among others. scorn from observers across
the political spectrum, in-
from enshrined rights.” warn the line marking ac- their views on race and Today’s students have cluding some founders of
On Wednesday, students ceptable speech could sexual identity. developed a new under-
the free speech movement
at the historically black slip if more college students At Middlebury College in standing of free speech that took root at Berkeley
Bethune-Cookman Univer- adopt less-than-absolute Vermont, author Charles that doesn’t protect lan- in the 1960s. Jack Wein-
sity in Florida tried to shout views on free speech. Murray was shouted down guage seen as offensive to berg, who was arrested on
down a commencement When UC Berkeley can- by students who accused minorities or others thought campus in 1964 for violat-
address by Education Sec- celed Coulter’s April 27 him of espousing racist to be disenfranchised, said ing school codes on activ-
retary Betsy DeVos, who speech amid threats of vi- views. An event featuring Herbst, also a former presi- ism and sparked a wave of
said during her speech, olence, it was only the lat- Milo Yiannopoulos at Berke- dent of Colgate University, protests to change them,
“Let’s choose to hear one est example of a speaker ley was called off after pro- a liberal arts school in Ham- said he found “the whole
another out.” Students and with controversial views tests over his views on race ilton, New York. thing despicable.”
alumni had previously peti- being blocked from talk- and transgender people He sees it as a generational “When you suppress ideas,
tioned to rescind her invita- ing. Since the beginning turned violent. divide, a notion that’s sup- you also increase interest
tion, saying she doesn’t un- of 2016, nearly 30 campus In the past year, other ported by some polling in those ideas,” Weinberg
derstand the importance speeches have been de- speeches have been dis-
of historically black schools. data. A 2015 survey by the said. q