In
recent years, different movements and protests have ensnared college campuses,
from #Me Too and Black Lives Matter, to LGBTQ rights and the Israel-Hamas War.
What do we do about free speech, book bans, censorship, and the cancel culture?
Are their limitations to wokeness, especially on campuses?
The
Academic Freedom Alliance (www.AcademicFreedom.org)
recently released a statement about how campus activities need to unfold so as
to not alienate people trying to get an education while not suppressing free
speech merely because the voicing of some views are unpopular with many. It
discusses the rights and responsibilities of students and professors, both in
and out of the classroom, and both on or off campus.
Can
we find a way to peacefully protest, to challenge beliefs, and to speak our
minds while not hurting others, threatening them, resorting to fighting words,
or disturbing the main purpose of a school - to safely get an education and
earn a degree?
It
seems things are getting to be more confrontational and more biased when it
comes to campus politics and events. It seems everyone is triggered these days
and few schools seem to have a handle on things.
A
lot of campus debate involves hateful or threatening speech. People simply
don’t feel safe or valued on campus. They just want to learn in peace, free of
indoctrination or persecution by people who are ignorant and unaware. Campuses
are no longer locations of learning and free expression; they are hate-centers
grooming weak minds that aren’t really qualified to be at the school they
attend. This is what happens when schools are filled with quota hires and merit=less
student admissions.
Here’s
what the Academic Freedom Alliance said in regards to campus protests and
activism at schools:
“Separate
from the merits of any particular controversy, there are several
well-established
principles
that should guide universities in responding to individual controversies.
Universities
should reaffirm and recommit themselves to principles that help preserve
American
institutions of higher education as vibrant homes of free inquiry.
Professors
must enjoy the liberty to discuss and even promote controversial ideas and to
present
controversial materials to students in their classes.
“Professors
have an obligation, however, not to take advantage of their captive audience of
students by introducing ideas or materials that are not germane to the subject
matter of their class. Likewise, professors have a responsibility not to
exploit their privileged position to attempt to indoctrinate students or to
subject them to political or ideological litmus tests or pressures in their
classroom assignments. Nor do professors have a right to compromise the
education of their students by conducting their classes in a manner designed
simply to advance their favored political causes. Universities must resist
calls to censor what is taught in classrooms, but they must also ensure that
classes are used for proper educational purposes.
“Professors,
like other members of the campus community, should enjoy the freedom to
speak
and act as citizens. When speaking in public in their personal capacity,
professors
may
give voice to controversial and even extreme political and social opinions that
others
might
find offensive or disturbing. When professors at American universities speak in
public
in a manner that is lawful under the First Amendment, universities should stand
behind
their right to express such views.
“Universities
should insist that professors, as well as other members of the campus
community, adhere to content-neutral regulations regarding the time, place, and
manner of public speech on campus, but universities must strive to apply those
rules in an even-handed and consistent manner regardless of the substantive
views of those expressing themselves. Universities should refrain from punishing
members of the faculty simply because some think their private political
speech
is intemperate, uncivil, dishonest, or disrespectful. Professors should be
judged
and
held accountable for their professional speech and conduct, not for their
political
views.
“Professors
have no more right than other members of the campus community to disrupt
the
proper functioning of the university and its activities, and professors, like
other
members
of the campus community, have a right to conduct their activities without
improper
disruption by others. Universities must take steps to ensure that campus
protests
do not interfere with the conduct of classes or hinder academic and educational
activities
on campus.
“Members
of the campus community have the right to engage in vigorous political debate
and
even to articulate extreme political views, but they have no right to try to
intimidate
or
menace other members of the community, violate university policies or state and
federal
laws, or interfere with the education or lawful activities of other members of
the
campus
community. Any violations of university policies should be expeditiously
investigated
and university rules protecting the integrity of its mission should be
stringently
enforced.
“Violations
of the law, irrespective of their motivation, should be referred to appropriate
law enforcement agencies. Any member of the campus community who chooses to
violate laws or the universities own rules and policies should expect to be
held accountable for the full consequences of their actions. The university should
enforce its policies guaranteeing that the campus serves as a genuine
educational and scholarly institution. It is the responsibility of university
leaders to ensure that the teaching and research missions of their institutions
are not sacrificed on the altar of politics.
“The
university should serve as a neutral and peaceful forum for robust political
and social
debate.
Universities will be distrusted and ultimately weakened if they are perceived
to
be
inconsistent in their adherence to their own stated principles, understood to
be
willing
to sacrifice their own scholarly mission to political causes, or thought
unwilling to
secure
the physical safety of their community members and the integrity of their
operations.
“Today
American universities are being tested. It is essential that they pass the test
by
rededicating
themselves to their core scholarly missions and acting consistently and in
good
faith on the principles that preserve free inquiry and open debate.”
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