Heinz Forum Friday: Free Speech on College Campuses

Prior to the demonstrations on campus by the hate group the Westboro Baptist Church last week, Laurie Weingart, our Provost and Chief Academic Officer, and Gina Casalegno, our VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, sent out an email laying out the university’s policy regarding free speech. Their email read:

“The open exchange and discussion of ideas and a diverse and inclusive community are core values for Carnegie Mellon University. We are committed to fostering an environment that honors both of those foundational principles. As a community, we must stand together against hate, while encouraging the free and civil expression of ideas and perspectives.”

Let’s talk about this (and this issue more broadly of free speech on college campuses).

Though our campus's encounter with distasteful free speech was small and not endorsed by any group within our university, speakers of the likes of Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos have sparked protest on campuses nationwide. Speaking at Georgetown Law Center, Jeff Sessions recently stated that,“The American university was once the center of academic freedom–a place of robust debate, a forum for the competition of ideas. But it is transforming into an echo chamber of political correctness and homogeneous thought, a shelter for fragile egos.” He notes bans on offensive behavior at Boise State and “free speech zones” at California’s Pierce College (among others). Does he have a point?

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