The Intolerant Fifth
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21 Fordaiiy.analy.~isand.debateonAmeric~ ~nsit' Economistcom/_uMtedst~gs ~: , Ecopomist.com~blo~s/demperabytnamerla Speech on campus ing, according to recent survey published by the Brookings Institution immediately The intolerant fifth after the violence in Charlottesville. Though outnumbered, this vocal mi- nority can have a chilling effect on what everyone else thinks they can say. At Yale, 4z% of students(and n% of conservatives) LOS ANGELES AND WASHINGTON, DC say they feel uncomfortable giving their opinions American universities have afree-speech problem.But it is not what it seems on politics,race, religion and gen- der. Self-censorship becomes more com- «TIBERALISM is white supremacy!" Illiberal impulses can be found in many mon as students progress through univer- l~shouted the students, as their hap- comers of society. But young Americans sity: 6i% of freshmen feel comfortable less speaker—Claire Gastanaga of the who have attended college are in fact more gabbing about their views,but the same is American Civil Liberties Union (ncLv)— accommodating of controversial speakers, true ofjust 56% of sophomores, q9% ofju- looked on.The protesters at the College of like avowed racists, than the general popu- niorsand 30% of seniors. William_ and Mary, the alma mater of lation is (see chart on next page). Nor has University administrators, whose job it Thomas Jefferson, went further still. "The tolerance of extreme views among stu- is to promote hazmony and diversity on revolution will not uphold the consritu- dents changed much in recent years ac- campus,often find the easiest way to do so tion" they chanted on September z~th. cording to the General Social Survey, is to placate the intolerant fifth. The two "Nazis don't deserve free speech". The which has been asking questions about at- groups form an odd alliance. Contenrious acLu's decision to defend the free-speech titudes to free speech for decades. Press re- campus politics have been a constant fea- rights of white nationalists in Charlottes- ports, which understandably focuses on ture of American life for more than 50 ville, Virginia prompted the students' ire. campus discord more than harmony, can years. But during the Free Speech Move- Because of it, Ms Gastanaga was unable to create a misleadingly gloomy impression. ment in the i96os, students at Berkeley speak,and the event, called "Students and While Charles Murray, a political scientist demonstrated to win the right to deter- the First Amendment",was cancelled. made radioacrive by his wriring on racial mine who could say what from adminis- Given their well-publicised.antics, it is differences in intelligence, got into a viol- trators. Now the opposite is true. Student easy to see why college students can be ent scrape when speaking at Middlebury activists are demanding that administra- tarred as blinkered devotees of political College, he emerged unscathed from re- tors interfere with teaching, asking for correctness run amok.Students at Oberlin, centtalks atHarvard and Columbia. mandatory ethnic-studies classes, the hir- a liberal-arts college in Ohio,revolted over The problem on campus, which never- ing of non-white or gay faculty and the insufficiently authentic Asian cuisine, theless is areal one,is different. A survey of ability to lodge complaints against profes- equating it to "cultural appropriation". 3,00o college students by Gallup for the sors for biased conduct in the classroom. After the campus newspaper at Wesleyan Knight Foundation and the Newseum In-~ This hands more power to administrators. University published an article critical of sritute finds that ~8% favour campuses College-administrators at public univer- Black Lives Matter,students tried to defend where offensive and biased speech is per- sities are subject to the fiill demands of the paper for failing to create a "safe space". mitted. Aseparate study found that even at America's capacious First Amendment, Elsewhere, students have launched cam- Yale, a hotbed of student protest, 72% op- which allows, among other things, hate paigns against invited speakers, setting posecodesthat circumscribe speech,com- speech and Dag burning. Federal courts their targets on.the likes ofJoe Biden, Con- pared with ~b%in favour.Truly illiberal ten- have struck down every speech code en- doleezza Rice and Christine Lagarde. To- denciesare limited to about zo% of college acted at a public university, and the Su- gether, this gives the alarming impression students.This is the fraction that thinks it is preme Court has declared academic &ee- that a whole generation has rejected free acceptable to use violence to prevent a dom a "transcendent value" of "special speech.That impression is wrong. "very controversial speaker" from speak- concern to the First. Amendment'. Private ►► ~~{'#~ t a'., ~'~ ~ _ ,`. ~„°". r ....,ya "s.F,~ b'~~'?-ati ~vt~ TIl@ ECOfi0lfllSt OGYOb2~ Myth 'L01J ; Z2 .,pUll~ spaces."' There have been comparatively Say what you Like about students fewer clashes between activists and ad- the following views should be allowed to: ministrators at the university. United States, adults.aged 18-30.. wt4o think people-with x. In fact, the share of schools with "se- give a pubUcspeech teach at a university codes has de- College ioo 100 verely restrictive" speech Acommu~it Non-college : clined for nine consecutive yeazs, accord- _ . ~ ~Mr~..Sp _ 50 for Individual Rights Noo-college o College Q ing tothe Foundation in Education, a pressure gioup. It is now a 2000 10 ~i6~ . 1970... 80 90 2000 ]0 ~~~6~ 1970 ~ 80 90 shade under 40%. The so-called Chicago ~~ ~w adopted or endorsed A perwn who adwcates ~'+~►~ '~~~'~'"'~_+_ principles have been doing away withelections ~ '~~' y~~~tir~ ''^~-- 50 Q;~ 50 by 3z other colleges and universities, in- and letting themilimry -0 Pur- run the coyntry... ~ 0 cludingPrinceton and Johns Hopkins. iao 100 due, auniversity in Indiana that was the AMusfimder~man - ~ -. first public institution to sign on to the Chi- whoDreachesh#hed ~ ~''tir' 50 - ~ 50 ofthe Urrited States ter"` cago principles, has taken a particularly vigorous approach to teaching .students aoo goo about free speech under the presidency of A personwhobefieves ~''~.~~~..~.~,, a4hlacksaregenetically "'•+F"~'Lr'~'T~~ 50- - - '50 Mitch Daniels. Cultural-sensitivity train- ;nfertor 0 0 ings have been a mainstay of orientations Source: Gen¢ral 1970 80 90 2000 10 16 4970 80 90 2000 30 16 at universities across the country, but Pur- s«tatsurve~, due now includes sessions promoting the value of free expression. "If these other ► universifles are legally much freer to regu- viduals from ideas and opinions they find schools choose to embarrass themselves latethe speech of their students and affili- unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply by forcing conformity of thought, allowing ates. Many find themselves in an uncom- offensive". A letter sent to the incoming diverse opinions to be shouted down or fortable bind. University presidents want class went further: "we do not support so- disinvited, thaPs their problem," says Pur- racially diverse classes of students, all of called `trigger warnings', we do not cancel due's MrDaniels. "However, if they're rais- whom feel welcome.IYustees and donors, invited speakers because theirtopics might ing up a generation of graduates with an sensitive to the critique of campuses as un- prove controversial, and we do not con- upside-down version of our constitutional thinkingly liberal, want intellectual diver- done the creation of intellectual `safe rights, thaYs everybody's problem." ■ sity•Professorswant to beleft alone. also be As principles go, free speech can Campus activists expensive. Security at Berkeley for Ben Shapiro, a conservative speaker, cost the university $600,000. Expenses to secure Psyche protection "Free Speech Week" at Berkeley, which of alt- was due to feature a rogues' gallery Putting micro-aggressions.un~er. tiemicroscope right speakers, were expected to run to $un. The university "hoped for the best but ORE thanigo years ago; john Stuart: that you'no longer feel comfortable in' had to plan for the worst', says Janet Napo- MMill put forward asensible~proposi- you skin;' gays jenny Ghukvtiu, aiecent litano, the president of the University of lion. "The only purposefor which-power graduate:of ttte University'of Chicago California system (the event was cancelled can be rightfully. exereised~overariy whois writing a 600kon~the subject. due to the incompetence of the organisers). member of acivilised community; "The claiiixthatnlicro-aggressions People like Milo Yiannopoulos, who seek against tiffs will,is to prevent haazm to result iri gnental't~aUma is supported by out campus speaking gigs less out of a others," he wrotein On~iberty.'Firsf "minimal"research, writes Scottl ilien- burning desire to say anything meaningful Amendment law has hewed closely'to feld;a psychologist ~tEmoryUniversity. than~in the hope of provoking a violent re- M}ll's k~arm principle, permitting ail sorts There are other gaps'in,the theory And . actio~, have worked out a formula for nee- of:disreptuable speech and°behaviour since micro-aggressions aze in.the_eye of dling administrators. Mr Yiannopoulos that do not poseap imminent physical the beholder, they ace close toimpossible has taken to asking student groups at Har- threat:Campus protesters, by Contrast, to measure in a way that would permit a vazd for an invite, according to Conor.Hea- argue thatsome speecH causes psycho- rigorous evaluation. ly, head of the Open Campus Initiative. logical harm, andistherefore covered by -Also beloved of campus activists aze Some of those currently standing up for Mill's dictum.:Do~those.claims withstand trigger warnings, when~instructors pre- free speech aze trying to drain university academic scrutiny? faaepotentially upsetting:texts,such asa resources while gaining personal notori- 1~ke "micro-aggressions"—a partic- novel'with a rape scene, with anote of ety. Berkeley is puzzling over how to cap ulaz concern of activists. Somewhat Caution.Here too,ri gorous evidence oh such spending, without penalising speak- nebulously defined,they canbe thought the mental-health:effects is far from erswith aparticular set of views.