Compared two speaker invitations at my school and the free speech response was totally different

My university invited a conservative commentator last semester and the administration let the protestors shut it down, but a left-leaning activist got full security and a backup venue. The difference was the dean claimed the first was a 'safety risk' but the second was 'academic freedom' in action. How do we stop schools from picking and choosing which speech they defend?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_beth4d ago

Same thing happened at my school. A conservative speaker got protested so hard the administration cancelled last minute because of "safety concerns." But when a progressive activist came a month later they had police escorts, extra security, and a bigger room ready to go. It was like night and day. The dean sent out an email about "protecting our community" for the first one and then "celebrating diverse voices" for the second. Makes you wonder if they even read their own free speech policies.

lee7332d ago

Honestly man, I get what you're saying but is it really that big of a deal either way? A school cancels a speaker or bumps up security for another, happens all the time. I mean, a dean sending out a few different emails doesn't mean they're secretly picking sides, it could just be they learned from the first one and did better planning the second time. People get so worked up over this stuff but at the end of the day it's just a couple events, nobody's free speech is really being destroyed over it. Feels like we look for reasons to be offended these days more than anything.