My philosophy professor in Ohio shut down a student protest over a speaker and I actually agreed with her

Honestly, I went to Cleveland State last fall expecting to back the students who were yelling to cancel a conservative speaker. But my professor, Dr. Hayes, let them shout for 10 minutes, then calmly said each disruption costs the university $200 in security. She argued the best way to fight bad ideas is to debate them, not silence them. Has anyone else seen a campus protest backfire because the administration stayed neutral?

2 comments

2 Comments

alice24215d ago

The part where she said the best way to fight bad ideas is to debate them really hit home for me. I was at a college in Michigan where students tried to shut down a guest speaker on immigration, and the administration just let it happen without stepping in. The protesters got loud and blocked the doors for almost an hour, but the speaker ended up talking anyway in a different room. It backfired hard because the people who disagreed with the speaker actually listened to what he said and changed a few minds after. Security costs went up for nothing, and the whole thing made the protesters look like they couldn't handle a disagreement. Sometimes letting people talk is the only way to expose how weak their arguments really are.

angelac6315d ago

@alice242 totally. A friend watched a campus debate backfire on the disruptors too.