Steve Bannon has been invited to speak at the University of Chicago next month. And even though a minority of professors signed an open letter to revoke the invitation, most of the faculty and the leadership support allowing Bannon to speak, even if they disagree with his political views.
The University of Chicago has long been known as a libertarian university. And it is spear-heading a free speech movement to increase free speech on campuses, and oppose the trend towards shutting down debate that some may find offensive.
It is abhorrent that some - typically a minority, and almost always on the left - wish to suppress free speech in the name of political correctness and ideological rigidity.
This is an excellent article if you have access to it.
The Free-Speech University
The University of Chicago has long been known as a libertarian university. And it is spear-heading a free speech movement to increase free speech on campuses, and oppose the trend towards shutting down debate that some may find offensive.
It is abhorrent that some - typically a minority, and almost always on the left - wish to suppress free speech in the name of political correctness and ideological rigidity.
This is an excellent article if you have access to it.
In recent years, as colleges across America have censored unfashionable views, Chicago has also come to be known for setting the gold standard for free expression on campus. Mr. Zimmer, who became president in 2006, deserves much credit. He has been outspoken in defense of free speech and in 2014 even set up a committee—under the constitutional law scholar Geoffrey Stone —that produced the Chicago Principles, the clearest statement by any American university in defense of uninhibited debate.
Mr. Zimmer, a mathematician, says Chicago’s intellectual and moral strengths are “totally tied together.” He’s also quick to point out that its commitment to free debate precedes him, naming virtually every one of his predecessors as a guardian of openness. Mr. Zimmer created the Stone committee, he says, after watching free-speech struggles at other schools: “People were starting to be disinvited from campuses—speakers of some stature, in fact. You started to see this pattern.”
A nadir came in 2013. That year the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) counted 34 “disinvitation attempts”—a record. The University of Pennsylvania canceled a keynote from the future prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, for fear of “potential polarizing reactions.” At Brown, New York’s then police commissioner, Ray Kelly, was shouted down by students holding signs like “Ray(cist) Kelly.” FIRE reports that the 2013 record was exceeded three years later, when the group counted 42 incidents.
Mr. Zimmer, a mathematician, says Chicago’s intellectual and moral strengths are “totally tied together.” He’s also quick to point out that its commitment to free debate precedes him, naming virtually every one of his predecessors as a guardian of openness. Mr. Zimmer created the Stone committee, he says, after watching free-speech struggles at other schools: “People were starting to be disinvited from campuses—speakers of some stature, in fact. You started to see this pattern.”
A nadir came in 2013. That year the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) counted 34 “disinvitation attempts”—a record. The University of Pennsylvania canceled a keynote from the future prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, for fear of “potential polarizing reactions.” At Brown, New York’s then police commissioner, Ray Kelly, was shouted down by students holding signs like “Ray(cist) Kelly.” FIRE reports that the 2013 record was exceeded three years later, when the group counted 42 incidents.
The Free-Speech University
