Free speech doesn’t mean hecklers get to shut down campus debate
Washington Post | Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman
Dean of Berkeley Law and Chancellor of the University of California at Irvine decry recent campus incidents aimed at silencing viewpoints. “Freedom of speech does not include a right to shout down others so they cannot be heard. Two recent incidents at law schools where protesting students sought to keep invited speakers from addressing their audiences are deeply troubling. In both cases, those defending the disruptive students have said their actions came under the constitutional protection of freedom of speech. That is wrong in terms of both the law and appropriate campus policy…”
”A primary goal of higher education is to empower students to critically analyze ideas across a broad spectrum of disciplines. The strengths and weaknesses of ideas are determined not by conformity to any preexisting orthodoxy, but through the process of rational argument and evidence-based reasoning,” they explain.
They then call on universities to take responsibility:
“Colleges must take affirmative steps to create inclusive environments, but this cannot come about by suppressing expression or allowing protesters to silence unpopular speakers…[they] must be clear and emphatic that attempting to shut down such events will not be tolerated and those engaging in it face disciplinary action.”
