The High Cost of Unfree Speech on College Campuses
December 27 | Posted by mrossol | American Thought, Education, Politically correct, The LeftSome good stuff.
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How many salaried counselors, deans and lawyers does it take to prohibit the distribution of copies of the U.S. Constitution on campus?
WSJ Dec. 21, 2014 3:07 p.m.
Regarding your editorial “Unfree Speech on Campus” (Dec. 13): Recently, at the University of Michigan, one conservative Muslim student was suspended from the establishment paper, The Michigan Daily, and had his door vandalized with food and vulgar warnings due to penning a satirical piece for the independent, conservative student paper, The Michigan Review, on the micro-aggressions the left-handed minority faces in Ann Arbor, Mich., due to right-hand privilege. It was a harmless piece which made some students feel “uncomfortable” and others outright criminal. No college administrator or teacher did these things. They were done by students who need some backbone.
My peers are incentivized to remain infantilized by university policies, but the culture of speech crime is now the mantle they carry.
Ryan Shinkel
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Not only is speech unfree on college campuses, it is expensive. Cadres of bureaucrats are necessary to conjure, decide on, draft and redraft, enact, enforce and litigate the severely restrictive policies, rules and regulations that prohibit constitutionally protected speech. I am curious. How many salaried counselors, deans and lawyers does it take to prohibit the distribution of copies of the U.S. Constitution on campus? How much time is spent trying to determine whether an email is “harsh”? The expense isn’t only the unjustifiable increase in the cost of tuition, it’s the cost to society of limiting economic mobility by pricing out smart, but economically challenged, potential leaders from the benefits of a college education.
Alan Levins
San Francisco
Eric Hoffer wrote, “The beginning of thought is disagreement—not only with others but also with ourselves.” Colleges should encourage free inquiry and disagreement, promoting diverse opinion and vigorous debate for all members of the university from the faculty to the students. Universities are meant to be places where students encounter new ideas and challenges. I find it very disappointing when only those on one side of an issue are allowed to express their opinions freely, while those on the other side have targets on their backs.
Zach Harner
University of Michigan
Class of ’14
Eau Claire, Mich.
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