Free Speech on Campus, and Its Limits

Focus THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION Free Speech on Campus, and Its Limits As a Chronicle of Higher Education individual subscriber, you receive premium, unrestricted access to the entire Chronicle Focus collection. Curated by our newsroom, these booklets compile the most popular and relevant higher-education news to provide you with in-depth looks at topics affecting campuses today. The Chronicle Focus collection explores student alcohol abuse, racial tension on campuses, and other emerging trends that have a significant impact on higher education.

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rofessors, particularly those with tenure, might assume they can express themselves, within reason, without being censored by their institutions. Students suppose they have a similar freedom. But unguarded speech on social media Pand on campus can lead to all kinds of grief, including the loss of a tenured position. The articles in this collection show how the various constituencies on campuses sort out their conflicting values over self-expression.

My Title IX Inquisition 4 After an essay led to complaints against her, a professor felt as if she was thrown into a kangaroo court. Melissa Click, U. of Missouri Professor Who Riled Free-Speech Advocates, Is Fired 10 State lawmakers vilified the professor who tried to prevent a journalist from getting near protesters. College Wrestles With Controversy Over Its Response to Professor’s Religious Views 12 A dispute that started with a Facebook post risked ending in a professor’s dismissal. Why I Was Fired 16 Steven Salaita’s firing made him a “free-speech darling” — or a symbol of incivility. At Yale, Painful Rifts Emerge Over Diversity and Free Speech 21 A series of controversies has led to angry accusations that the university has not done enough to stem racism. When Free Speech Becomes a Political Weapon 25 The notion of freedom of speech is being used to silence those who are oppressed and marginalized. In a Time of Tension, Universities Craft New Free-Speech Policies 28 Institutions are seeking the right balance between allowing self-expression and keeping public order. What Students Think About Free Speech 31 Being taught from a young age not to bully may make this generation more tolerant of censorship. Free Expression in Peril 34 Student and faculty speech is sometimes ugly and offensive. But we must protect it. All of it. The Free-Speech Fallacy 39 Condemning a position in advance of a campus speech inhibits open debate. Russia, Land of Free Speech 41 In a land of state censorship, intellectuals prize unfettered speech. That is less the case in America.

Cover illustration by Gwenda Kaczor for The Chronicle

22 c a mp u s v iol e nc e t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016

By LAURA KIPNIS

CHRONICLE REVIEW ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT SEYMOUR

4 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 hen I first heard that students retaliation, it said, though it failed to explain how at my university had staged a an essay that mentioned no one by name could be protest over an essay I’d written construed as retaliatory, or how a publication fell in The Chronicle Review about under the province of Title IX, which, as I under- sexual politics on campus — and stood it, dealt with sexual misconduct and gender thatW they were carrying mattresses and pillows — discrimination. I was a bit nonplussed. For one thing, mattresses Title IX was enacted by Congress in 1972 to deal had become a symbol of student-on-student sexu- with gender discrimination in public education — al-assault allegations, and I’d been writing about athletics programs were the initial culprits — and the new consensual-relations codes governing pro- all institutions receiving federal funds were re- fessor-student dating. Also, I’d been writing as a quired to be in compliance. Over time, court rul- feminist. And I hadn’t sexually assaulted anyone. ings established sexual harassment and assault as The whole thing seemed symbolically incoherent. forms of discrimination, and in 2011 the U.S. De- According to our campus newspaper, the mat- partment of Education advised colleges to “take tress-carriers were marching to the university immediate and effective steps to end sexual ha- president’s office with a petition demanding “a rassment and sexual violence.” Since then, colleges swift, official condemnation” of my article. One have been scrambling to show that they’re doing student said she’d had a “very visceral reaction” to everything they can to comply, but still, more than the essay; another called it “terrifying.” I’d argued 100 of them are under federal investigation for vio- that the new codes infantilized students while lating Title IX policies. vastly increasing the power of university admin- I should pause to explain that my essay included istrators over all our lives, and here were students two paragraphs about a then-ongoing situation on demanding to be protected by university high my campus involving a professor who was himself er-ups from the affront of someone’s ideas, which the subject of two sexual-harassment investiga- seemed to prove my point. tions involving two students. This professor sub- The president announced that he’d consider the sequently sued university officials and one of the petition. students for defamation, among other things. The Still, I assumed that academic freedom would charges had occasioned a flurry of back-and-forth prevail. I also sensed the students weren’t going to lawsuits, all part of the public record, which had come off well in the court of public opinion, which been my source for the two paragraphs. My point proved to be the case; mocking tweets were soon in citing this legal morass was that students’ ex- pouring in. Marching against a published article panding sense of vulnerability, and new campus wasn’t a good optic — it smacked of book burning, policies that fostered it, was actually impeding something Americans generally oppose. Indeed, their educations as well as their chances of faring I was getting a lot of love on social media from well in postcollegiate life, where a certain amount all ends of the political spectrum, though one of of resilience is required of us all. the anti-PC brigade did suggest that, as a leftist, I should realize these students were my own evil he email from the Title IX coordinator pro- spawn. (Yes, I was spending a lot more time online vided a link to information about our uni- than I should have.) Tversity’s Title IX policies, which brought me Being protested had its gratifying side — I soon to a page containing more links. Clicking around, realized that my writer friends were jealous that I found information about the rights of accusers I’d gotten marched on and they hadn’t. I found and what to do if you’ve been harassed, though I myself shamelessly dropping it into conversation couldn’t find much that related to me. I did learn whenever possible. “Oh, students are marching that Title IX protects individuals who’ve report- against this thing I wrote,” I’d grimace, in re- ed sexual misconduct from retaliation — charac- sponse to anyone’s “How are you?” I briefly fan- terized as “intimidation, threats, coercion, or dis- tasized about running for the board of PEN, the crimination” — but I failed to see how I could have international writers’ organization devoted to pro- retaliated against anyone when it wasn’t me who’d tecting free expression. been charged with sexual misconduct in the first Things seemed less amusing when I received place. an email from my university’s Title IX coordina- I wrote back to the Title IX coordinator ask- tor informing me that two students had filed Title ing for clarification: When would I learn the spe- IX complaints against me on the basis of the essay cifics of these complaints, which, I pointed out, and “subsequent public statements” (which turned appeared to violate my academic freedom? And out to be a tweet), and that the university would what about my rights — was I entitled to a lawyer? retain an outside investigator to handle the com- I received a polite response with a link to another plaints. website. No, I could not have an attorney present I stared at the email, which was under-explan- during the investigation, unless I’d been charged atory in the extreme. I was being charged with with sexual violence. I was, however, allowed to

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 5 have a “support person” from the university com- cious, medieval rules, and I wasn’t supposed to tell munity there, though that person couldn’t speak. anyone about it. I wouldn’t be informed about the substance of the complaints until I met with the investigators. ecause I strongly believe that the Title IX Apparently the idea was that they’d tell me the process should be far more transparent than charges, and then, while I was collecting my wits, Bit is, let me introduce some transparency by interrogate me about them. The term “kangaroo sharing the charges against me. court” came to mind. I wrote to ask for the charges Both complainants were graduate students. One in writing. The coordinator wrote back thanking turned out to have nothing whatsoever to do with me for my thoughtful questions. the essay. She was bringing charges on behalf of What I very much wanted to know, though the university community as well as on behalf of there was apparently no way of finding it out, was two students I’d mentioned — not by name — be- whether this was the first instance of Title IX cause the essay had a “chilling effect” on students’ charges filed over a publication. Was this a test ability to report sexual misconduct. I’d also made case? From my vantage point, it seemed to pit a deliberate mistakes, she charged (a few small er- federally mandated program against my constitu- rors that hadn’t been caught in fact-checking were tional rights, though I admit my understanding of later corrected by the editors), and had violated those rights was vague. the nonretaliation provision of the faculty hand- A week later I heard from the investigators. For book. reasons I wasn’t privy to, the university had hired The other complainant was someone I’d men- an outside law firm, based in another Midwestern tioned fleetingly (again, not by name) in connec- city an hour-and-a- tion with the profes- half flight away, to sor’s lawsuits. She conduct the investi- charged that men- gation; a team of two tioning her was retal- lawyers had been Anyone with a iatory and created a appointed, and they hostile environment wanted to schedule grudge, a political (though I’d said noth- “an initial interview” ing disparaging), and the following week. that I’d omitted in- They were available agenda, or a desire formation I should to fly in to meet in have included about person — the phrase for attention can her. This seemed par- “billable hours” came adoxical — should I to mind — or we have written more? could videoconfer- easily leverage the And is what I didn’t ence. The email con- write really the busi- tained more links to system. ness of Title IX? She more Title IX web- also charged that sites, each of which something I’d tweeted contained more to someone else re- links. I had the feeling that clicking on any of them garding the essay had actually referred to her. (It would propel me down an informational rabbit hadn’t.) hole where I’d learn nothing yet not re-emerge for Please pause to note that a Title IX charge can days. now be brought against a professor over a tweet. I replied that I wanted to know the charges be- Also that my tweets were apparently being moni- fore agreeing to a meeting. They told me, cordially, tored. that they wanted to set up a meeting during which Much of this remains puzzling to me, including they would inform me of the charges and pose how someone can bring charges in someone else’s questions. I replied, in what I hoped was a cordial name, who is allowing intellectual disagreement tone, that I wouldn’t answer questions until I’d had to be redefined as retaliation, and why a professor time to consider the charges. can’t write about a legal case that’s been nationally We finally agreed to schedule a Skype session in reported, precisely because she’s employed by the which they would inform me of the charges and I university where the events took place. Wouldn’t would not answer questions. I felt the flush of vic- this mean that academic freedom doesn’t extend tory, though it was short-lived. I said I wanted to to academics discussing matters involving their record the session; they refused but said I could own workplaces? take notes. The reasons for these various interdic- Since the investigators had refused to provide tions were never explained. I’d plummeted into an the charges in writing, and I can often barely read underground world of secret tribunals and capri- my own handwriting, I’d typed notes during the

6 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 Skype session, though I’d wondered if they’d object a student furious with her for discussing the book. to that, too — could they? The extent of their pow- A tenured professor on my campus wrote about ers was mysterious to me. (I’d briefly considered lying awake at night worrying that some stray re- furtively recording the session despite the ban but mark of hers might lead to student complaints, so- decided against it — I’m a law-abiding type, I real- cial-media campaigns, eventual job loss, and her ized to my chagrin.) being unable to support her child. I’d thought she I made what sense I could of my wildly mistyped was exaggerating, but that was before I learned notes and emailed the investigators a summary, about the Title IX complaints against me. adding that I’d answer only questions related to the charges I’d been informed about. I wrote up y Midwestern Torquemadas were per- a peevish statement asserting that the essay had fectly pleasant at our on-campus meeting been political speech, stemming from my belief, as M— they’d indeed flown to town to meet in a feminist, that women have spent the past century person — so pleasant that I relaxed and became and a half demanding to be treated as consenting overvoluble, stupidly gratified by their interest and adults; now a cohort on campuses was demanding attentions. There I was, expounding on my views to relinquish those rights, which I believe is a di- about power and feminism; soon I was delivering sastrous move for feminism. I used the words “po- a mini-seminar on the work of Michel Foucault. litical” and “feminist” numerous times. Later, replaying the two-and-a-half-hour session in my mind, I thought, “You chump,” realizing that et me interject that I don’t think my univer- I’d probably dug a hundred new holes for myself. sity necessarily wanted to be the venue for They’d asked endless questions about particular La First Amendment face-off — indeed, the sentences in the essay, the sources for my ideas and president himself had recently published an op-ed claims, and what I’d meant in that fateful tweet. in defense of academic freedom. As I understand They didn’t record any of it, nor was there a ste- it, any Title IX charge that’s filed has to be investi- nographer. One of the lawyers typed notes on her gated, which effectively empowers anyone on cam- laptop; they’d send me a summary of my remarks, pus to individually decide, and expand, what Title they said, which I could correct or add to, if I IX covers. Anyone with a grudge, a political agen- chose. I found these procedures utterly mystifying. da, or a desire for attention can quite easily lever- Toward the end, I asked how the complainants age the system. could possibly know that my essay had created a And there are a lot of grudges these days. The “chilling effect” on campus. One of them, I was reality is that the more colleges devote themselves told, had provided the lawyers with the names of to creating “safe spaces” — that new watchword — students and staff members who’d testify that the for students, the more dangerous those campuses essay had chilled them. I, too, could supply names become for professors. It’s astounding how aggres- of witnesses to interview, if I liked. sive students’ assertions of vulnerability have got- That was our only face-to-face meeting, though ten in the past few years. Emotional discomfort is there were numerous phone calls, emails, and re- regarded as equivalent to material injury, and all quests for further substantiation, including copies injuries have to be remediated. of emails and tweets. I tried to guess what all this Most academics I know — this includes fem- was costing — two lawyers flying back and forth inists, progressives, minorities, and those who to conduct interviews of the complainants, my- identify as gay or queer — now live in fear of some self, and an expanding list of witnesses, review the classroom incident spiraling into professional di- sources for a 5,200-word article, adjudicate their saster. After the essay appeared, I was deluged findings, and compose a thorough report. I’m no with emails from professors applauding what I’d expert on legal fees, but I was pretty sure the me- written because they were too frightened to say ter was ticking in $10,000 increments. such things publicly themselves. My inbox became I’d been asked to keep the charges confidential, a clearinghouse for reports about student accu- but this became moot when, shortly before my sations and sensitivities, and the collective terror campus meeting with the investigators, a graduate of sparking them, especially when it comes to the student published an article on a well-trafficked dreaded subject of trigger warnings, since pretty site excoriating me and the essay, and announc- much anything might be a “trigger” to someone, ing that two students had filed Title IX retalia- given the new climate of emotional peril on cam- tion complaints against me. She didn’t identify her puses. source for this information or specify her own re- I learned that professors around the country lationship to the situation, though she seemed well now routinely avoid discussing subjects in classes versed on all the inside details; in fact, she knew that might raise hackles. A well-known sociolo- more about the process than I did. gist wrote that he no longer lectures on abortion. It wasn’t me alone on the chopping block. She Someone who’d written a book about incest in her also excoriated our university’s president for his own family described being confronted in class by op-ed essay on academic freedom, which, she

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 7 charged, was really a veiled commentary on the ly than not” as opposed to “beyond a reasonable pending Title IX charges against me and thus doubt” — but that seemed pretty vague. Note that subverted the process by issuing a covert advance I was never actually presented with any of this verdict in my favor. (He’d obliquely mentioned the evidence. Given that the investigators doubled as controversy over the essay, among other campus judge and jury, and the extralegal nature of the free-speech issues.) She didn’t seem particularly proceedings, I wished I’d been more ingratiating. concerned that she herself was subverting the process by charging that the process had been sub- he Title IX bureaucracy is expanding by verted, and by revealing the complaints in the first the minute. A recent emailed update from place. Tmy university announced new policies, pro- She was also surprisingly unconcerned about grams, hires, surveys, procedures, websites, and how effectively her article demolished its own educational initiatives devoted to sexual miscon- premises about the asymmetry of institutional duct. What wasn’t quantified is how much intel- power. If a graduate student can publicly blast her lectual real estate is being grabbed in the process. own university’s president, mock his ideas, and It’s a truism that the mission of bureaucracies is, fear no repercussions, then clearly the retaliatory above all, to perpetuate themselves, but with the power that university employment confers on any- extension of Title IX from gender discrimination one — from professors to presidents — is nil. Nor into sexual misconduct has come a broadening of had my own essay exactly had a chilling effect on not just its mandate but even what constitutes sex- anyone’s freedom of expression. ual assault and rape. An academic friend and I disagreed about Ambivalent sex becomes coerced sex, with charges brought months or even years after the events in question. Title IX officers now adjudicate an increasing range of murky situations involving mutual drunkenness, conflicting stories, What’s being lost, and relationships gone wrong. They pronounce on the thorniest of philosophical and psychological issues: What is consent? What is power? Should along with job power differentials between romantic partners be proscribed? Should eliminating power differences security, is the in relationships even be a social goal — wouldn’t that risk eliminating heterosexuality itself? liberty to publish Nothing I say here is meant to suggest that sexual assault on campuses isn’t a problem. It is. My concern is that debatable and ultimately conser- ideas that might go vative notions about sex, gender, and power are becoming embedded in these procedures, with- against the grain. out any public scrutiny or debate. But the climate on campuses is so accusatory and sanctimonious — so “chilling,” in fact — that open conversations are practically impossible. It’s only when Title IX whether the graduate student’s article would be charges lead to lawsuits and the usual veil of secre- seen as a good career move on her part (a coura- cy is lifted that any of these assumptions become geous example of “punching up”) or a self-wound- open for discussion — except that simply discussing one (“collegiality” is still a factor considered ing one such lawsuit brought the sledgehammer of by hiring committees; no one wants a high-dra- Title IX down on me, too. ma potential colleague). He thought the former; Many of the emails I received from people I wasn’t so sure, though we agreed that given the teaching at universities pointed out that I was in a shifting political winds on campuses these days, it position to take on the subjects I did in the earlier was impossible to call. essay only because I have tenure. The idea is that At the end of the interrogation, the investiga- once you’ve fought and clawed your way up the tors asked if I wanted to file my own retaliation tenure ladder, the prize is academic freedom, the complaint against the student who’d revealed the general premise being — particularly at research charges. I said that I believed all parties involved universities, like the one I’m fortunate enough to were using the process for political purposes. I de- be employed at — that there’s social value in fos- clined to press charges against anyone. tering free intellectual inquiry. It’s a value fast dis- They’d issue a report on their findings within appearing in the increasingly corporatized univer- 60 days, they said, though on what basis I had no sity landscape, where casual labor is the new real- idea. The standard that applied was “preponder- ity. Adjuncts, instructors, part-timers — now half ance of evidence,” they’d explained — “more like- the profession, according to the American Associ-

8 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 ation of University Professors — simply don’t have ing my case informed me by phone, retaliation the same freedoms, practically speaking. complaints were filed against him for speaking What’s being lost, along with job security, is the publicly about the matter (even though the com- liberty to publish ideas that might go against the plaints against me had already been revealed in grain or to take on risky subjects in the first place. the graduate student’s article), and he could no With students increasingly regarded as customers longer act as my support person. Another team and consumer satisfaction paramount, it’s imper- of lawyers from the same firm has been ap- ative to avoid creating potential classroom friction pointed to conduct a new investigation. with unpopular ideas if you’re on a renewable con- A week or so earlier, the investigators had tract and wish to stay employed. Self-censorship phoned to let me know that a “mediated resolu- naturally prevails. But even those with tenure fear tion” was possible in my case if I wished to pursue getting caught up in some horrendous disciplinary that option. I asked what that meant — an image process with ad hoc rules and outcomes; pretty of me and the complainants in a conference room much everyone now self-censors accordingly. hugging came to mind. I didn’t like the visual. The When it comes to campus sexual politics, how- students were willing to drop their complaints in ever, the group most constrained from speaking exchange for a public apology from me, the inves- — even those with tenure — is men. No male ac- tigators said. I tried to stifle a laugh. I asked if that ademic in his right mind would write what I did. was all. No, they also wanted me to agree not to Men have been effectively muzzled, as any number write about the case. of my male correspondents attested. I understand that by writing these sentences, I suspect that most Americans, if pushed, would I’m risking more retaliation complaints, though go to the mat for the First Amendment, which is I’m unclear what penalties may be in store (I sus- what academic freedom is modeled on. You can pect it’s buried somewhere in those links). But I mock academic culture all you want, and I’ve done refuse to believe that students get to dictate what a fair amount of it myself, but I also believe that professors can or can’t write about, or what we’re unconstrained intellectual debate — once the ideal allowed to discuss at our Faculty Senate meetings. of university life, now on life support — is essen- I don’t believe discussing Title IX cases should be tial to a functioning democratic society. And that verboten in the first place — the secrecy of the pro- should concern us all. I also find it beyond depress- cess invites McCarthyist abuses and overreach. ing to witness young women on campuses — in- For the record, my saying this isn’t retaliation. cluding aspiring intellectuals! — trying to induce It’s intellectual disagreement. If more complaints university powers to shield them from the umbrag- are brought, I suppose I’ll write another essay es of life and calling it feminism. about them. To my mind, that’s what freedom of As of this writing, I have yet to hear the ver- expression means, and what’s the good of having a dict on my case, though it’s well past the 60-day freedom you’re afraid to use? time frame. In the meantime, new Title IX complaints have been filed against the faculty-sup- Laura Kipnis is a professor in the department port person who accompanied me to the ses- of radio, television, and film at Northwestern sion with the investigators. As a member of the University. Her most recent book is Men: Notes Faculty Senate, whose bylaws include the pro- From an Ongoing Investigation (Metropolitan tection of academic freedom — and believing Books, 2014). the process he’d witnessed was a clear violation of academic freedom — he’d spoken in general Editor’s note: Laura Kipnis has been cleared of terms about the situation at a senate meeting. wrongdoing in the two Title IX investigations Shortly thereafter, as the attorneys investigat- discussed in this essay.

Originally published on May 29, 2015

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 9 Melissa Click, U. of Missouri Professor Who Riled Free- Speech Advocates, Is Fired

By STEVE KOLOWICH

MARK SCHIERBECKER, AP IMAGES Melissa Click, an assistant professor of communication, was caught on camera in November trying to prevent a student journalist from covering a protest.

elissa A. Click, the assistant professor of communication whose actions during a student protest last fall sparked national outrage, was fired by the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators on Wednesday night, system leaders announced on Thursday. M“The board respects Dr. Click’s right to express her views and does not base this decision on her support for students engaged in protest or their views,” read a statement announcing the decision. “However, Dr. Click was not entitled to interfere with the rights of others, to confront members of law enforcement, or to encourage potential physical intimidation against a student.” Ms. Click has in recent months become a lightning rod in state politics, with lawmakers doggedly demanding her resignation and colleagues jumping to her defense, alleging that she had not been afforded due process. Henry C. (Hank) Foley, the Columbia campus’s interim chancellor, said in a call with reporters on Thursday that the process the board had used to fire Ms.

10 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 Click was “not typical, but these are extraordinary “Professors have a right to protest and to speak times in our university’s history.” in public, but they’re going to be held to a higher A spokeswoman for Status Labs, a public-rela- standard when they’re representing the universi- tions firm working with Ms. Click, said on Thursday ty,” he said. that the professor had no comment on the decision. In the call with reporters, the chair of the board, Pamela Q. Henrickson, said that board members ‘SOME MUSCLE’ were “aware” of lawmakers’ statements about Ms. Click but that they “did not take that into account.” Ms. Click was caught on camera in November The board’s decision to fire Ms. Click occurred calling for “some muscle” to help remove a student about a month after it suspended her and enlist- journalist from a campus protest he was cover- ed Bryan Cave, a law firm, to investigate the No- ing. The professor had been helping to enforce a vember incident. Ms. Henrickson told reporters boundary around an encampment, on the main that investigators had reviewed hundreds of doc- quad, where students had gathered with members uments and had interviewed more than 20 people of the faculty and staff to protest racism at the uni- — including Ms. Click, twice. versity. Her actions made her an instant villain to people worried that free speech on campuses was ‘A TERRIBLE DECISION’ being curtailed to create “safe spaces.” Ms. Click apologized for her actions, but was Faculty leaders at the university were upset by eventually charged with assault. She pleaded not the board’s decision to take Ms. Click’s fate into guilty and agreed to do community service to its own hands. In a letter last month, the Faculty avoid prosecution. But Republican legislators in Council on the flagship campus asked the board Missouri made it clear that they wanted her fired. to back off and let the university judge Ms. Click’s In January, 117 state lawmakers signed a letter actions according to a procedure, spelled out in its calling for her termination. Ms. Click’s university bylaws, that was designed to “protect the rights of colleagues countered with a letter of support for accused faculty while also protecting the universi- the embattled professor signed by more than 100 ty’s interest in identifying and responding to facul- faculty members. ty irresponsibility.” The standoff continued in February. A top state Faculty leaders on the university system’s other lawmaker this week threatened $7.7 million in campuses this week endorsed that position. The budget cuts for the University of Missouri system, American Association of University Professors has including a $400,000 cut for the flagship cam- also weighed in, expressing concern that Ms. Click pus: the equivalent of the combined salaries of Ms. was being denied due process. Click, her department chair, and her dean. (The Henry F. (Hank) Reichman, a professor emeri- student who had filmed Ms. Click at the protest tus of history at California State University-East asked legislators to stop using the video as a pre- Bay and chairman of the AAUP’s Committee A text for cuts.) on Academic Freedom and Tenure, said in a post on the association’s Academe blog that the board’s ‘NOT JUSTIFIABLE’ decision “makes a sham of shared governance and due process.” He said Ms. Click had “clearly been The news of Ms. Click’s firing may be a step to- made a scapegoat, and the actions of the board ward repairing the university’s strained relation- and interim chancellor are shameful.” ship with the General Assembly, said State Rep. But no one on the campus filed a complaint David Wood, a Republican and chairman of the against the professor, Ms. Henrickson said, a step Joint Committee on Education, in an interview that would have triggered the university’s own with The Chronicle. procedures. “No one took the opportunity to avail “I support their move,” said Representative themselves of that process,” she said, so the board Wood, who oversaw a recent committee hearing at began its own. which several legislators asked university officials In a written statement on Thursday, the chair of about the terms of Ms. Click’s contract and what the Columbia campus’s Faculty Council, Ben Tracht- actions they were taking to respond to her actions enberg, said the board had “made a terrible decision.” as caught on video. “Regardless of one’s opinion of Professor Click’s Mr. Wood said he didn’t think legislators were behavior or fitness for duty,” he continued, “she necessarily intent on having Ms. Click fired, but was entitled by our rules — rules that the Board they wanted to know if the university was taking of Curators has approved — to a fair process. She steps to make sure a similar occurrence didn’t take didn’t get it.” place in the future. “Her actions were not justifiable in any way,” said Mr. Wood. Eric Kelderman contributed to this article.

Originally published on February 25, 2016

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 11 M. SPENCER GREEN, AP IMAGES Larycia A. Hawkins is facing potential dismissal from her tenured position at Wheaton College of Illinois in a dispute over her statements about Christianity and Islam. Some faculty members say the administration’s approach has been heavy-handed and has already harmed academic freedom. College Wrestles With Controversy Over Its Response to Professor’s Religious Views

By BETH MCMURTRIE

he case of Larycia A. Hawkins has she and others describe as a challenging tenure raised troubling questions at Whea- at Wheaton, where she has taught since 2007, in ton College of Illinois about theology, which her beliefs have been questioned on several academic freedom, and diversity. Ms. occasions. Hawkins, who is the first and only black “A hermeneutic of suspicion has followed me Tfemale tenured professor at the evangelical Chris- since I began at Wheaton, and it all revolves tian college, says she is stunned by how a Facebook around my evangelical fitness, and I can’t explain post intended to express support for Muslims led where that comes from,” she said in a telephone in- to a move by the provost, Stanton L. Jones, to force terview on Saturday. Raised in a Baptist church, her out. That move is the latest conflict in what where her grandfather was the pastor, and later

12 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 a member of an evangelical parachurch, she said a meeting the week after her Facebook post and she has struggled to understand why she has not asked her to clarify her views. In a memorandum seemed evangelical enough for some people in the to her, which she later posted on her blog, he noted Wheaton community. “I get evangelicalism, not that Wheaton’s faith statement describes a distinct from the outside but from the inside. But Wheaton view of God, one that is different than that under- has its own version. I call it evangelicalism on ste- stood by Muslims. roids.” Ms. Hawkins submitted a three-page response On a campus of fewer than 200 full-time facul- two days later, and said she had been told that her ty members, Ms. Hawkins’s case has reverberated statement was sufficient. But in a follow-up meet- deeply. And while many professors are reserving ing, on December 19, Mr. Jones said that he con- judgment until they know more about her situa- tinued to have questions about her theological be- tion, others plan to wear their academic regalia to liefs. The best option he put on the table, she said: class each day in solidarity with their colleague. Agree to a two-year open-ended series of conver- Wheaton, which is nondenominational, requires sations with the administration and the Board all faculty members to sign, and renew annually, of Trustees about her theological views while her a commitment to its Statement of Faith. Among tenure was suspended. She refused. “I don’t know Christian colleges, Wheaton is seen as more strict anyone in academia who thinks that’s an option,” than average, but it also maintains a strong aca- she said. demic reputation. Some professors say they worry that Wheaton’s reputation may be at risk if professors can be punished for views that do not appear to explicitly contradict “Many faculty are the faith statement. “Many faculty are frustrated, frustrated, confused, confused, and angered by the rationale, the process, and the pace with the way the Dr. Hawkins case and angered by the has been handled,” said Noah Toly, an associate professor of urban rationale, the process, studies and a friend of Ms. Haw- kins. “Her initial statements would have been controversial among and the pace with the both Muslims and Christians. But it’s not clear that they were out- way the Dr. Hawkins side the bounds of the Statement of Faith and required her to be put on leave.” case has been handled.”

ASKED FOR EXPLANATIONS Mr. Jones, responding on Sunday to emailed The controversy began on December 10, when questions, recalled their exchange differently. Ms. Hawkins, an associate professor of political “When Dr. Hawkins presented her written re- science, posted a photograph of herself on Face- sponse, she asked immediately whether it was book wearing a hijab and wrote that “I stand in sufficient. I responded that outside the current religious solidarity with Muslims because they, context, such as in a prospective faculty member’s like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And initial application for employment, the response as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the would not likely cause the administration or Fac- same God.” ulty Personnel Committee concern. But in the She said her action stemmed from conversations present context, while it was a good start for fur- she’d had with students about how best to show ther conversation, it was not sufficient by itself. She solidarity with Muslims at a time when they were then expressed her unwillingness to have further increasingly under attack. Among evangelicals, theological discussion.” the question of whether Muslims and Christians Because of this “impasse,” as the college de- worship the same God is an open, if controversial, scribed it in one of several statements posted on debate. A recent poll showed that about 35 percent its website, Wheaton began termination proceed- of evangelical Christians agree that they do, and ings against Ms. Hawkins last week. It earlier not- Wheaton’s faith statement does not directly weigh ed that it had “significant questions regarding the in on the matter. theological implications of her recent public state- Mr. Jones, the provost, called Ms. Hawkins into ments.”

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 13 Ms. Hawkins said she had refused to answer black-liberation theology. As a social scientist, she further questions because there was no point in said, it is useful to trace how that theology has in- continuing the conversation: Either her written fluenced black notions of justice and to discuss clarification and her discussions with Mr. Jones what Christians can learn from it. Others, includ- are sufficient or they aren’t. ing Mr. Toly and Mr. Green, have also discussed On the campus, professors say that while there black-liberation theology in their work and teach- have been many conversations among faculty ing, but they were not questioned, as she was, members, this week, when classes resume, marks about her views. In their meeting, Ms. Hawkins their first opportunity to meet as a group. Peter said Mr. Jones had asked if she supported Marx- Walhout, a chemistry professor, said many faculty ism. members are disturbed by how Ms. Hawkins’s case “Nowhere in our faith statement does it suggest Marxism is outside the bounds or that drawing on Marxist theologians are out of bounds,” “Regardless of how one views said Mr. Toly. Ms. Hawkins said she met again with the provost last the complex theological and spring after she had pushed for the inclusion of discussions semantical issues of the ‘one of sexuality in curricular revi- sions, in addition to existing discussions about race, gender, God’ controversy, the faculty, and ethnicity. She said that former students have responded I believe, are uniformly alarmed in alumni surveys that they did not feel Wheaton had prepared them well to enter a diverse at the heavy-handed approach work force. “This is not a political agen- of the administration.” da,” she said. “This is about academic integrity, this is about accreditation.” has unfolded. She said that a diversity committee had en- “Regardless of how one views the complex theo- dorsed her statement on the subject and that she logical and semantical issues of the ‘one God’ told Mr. Jones she was offended that he would controversy, the faculty, I believe, are uniformly question her religious integrity. “I have no idea alarmed at the heavy-handed approach of the ad- why I’m being singled out,” she said. “Why there is ministration,” he wrote in an email. a difference between Larycia Hawkins and every Her colleagues describe Ms. Hawkins as deeply single other person.” committed to both the college and her faith, loved Mr. Jones said he has not treated Ms Hawkins by students, and tireless in her willingness to sit on differently. “As a matter of principle, I would not committees and serve in the community. A peti- single out any one faculty member,” he wrote. “We tion to reinstate her has drawn more than 55,000 regularly speak with faculty casually and comfort- supporters. “She is the consummate liberal-arts ably about our shared religious convictions, pre- teacher who cares for the personal and intellectual cisely because they are deeply held and shared con- development of her students,” said Gene L. Green, victions. We occasionally seek clarification with a professor of New Testament who attended a some faculty when questions emerge, and on some news conference Ms. Hawkins held last week. “So I unusual occasions have a difficult conversation say, What’s going on here?” about statements or actions that seem in conflict with our convictions. In my view, I have not held HELD TO A DIFFERENT STANDARD? Dr. Hawkins to a higher or different standard.” Because she is one of seven full-time black pro- To some, the answer is that Ms. Hawkins is be- fessors on the campus, about 3 percent of the facing held to a different standard than her colleagues ulty, the role that Ms. Hawkins’s race has played in are. This is the fourth time she has been asked by the latest controversy has come up in online con- Mr. Jones to explain how her views align with the versations. In the petition, for example, some ques- college’s faith statement. tion Wheaton’s support for racial diversity. The first such questioning occurred when she Some of Ms. Hawkins’s supporters, however, say wrote her statement of faith and learning, re- they believe Wheaton is, in fact, committed to di- quired of all faculty members up for tenure, about versity. “We pull from a very conservative student

14 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 body from very conservative churches, and we “the media are pounding on our door asking for work overtime to root out racism,” said Mr. Green. comments about our faculty who are endorsing “To say that the administration is tone-deaf and Islam.” unaware about problems of race or that they turn Ms. Hawkins said that Mr. Jones had told her their head would be a wrong characterization.” that hundreds of students had already withdrawn Ms. Hawkins herself praises Mr. Jones for his their applications. Mr. Jones said that’s not accu- work in that area. “For the nine years I’ve been at rate. “We did, however, discuss the numerous re- Wheaton, there’s not anyone more committed to sponses the college was receiving, and that this diversity in the administration,” she said. “He has could have negative implications for applications,” thought out how to increase the number of minori- he said. ty faculty, including women and people of color “I don’t think the administration is being racist and international scholars.” in singling her out for her recent comments,” said Wheaton said in a statement last week that Ms. Mr. Toly. “I fear that in the background of many Hawkins’s suspension had “resulted from theo- concerns raised by external constituencies there logical statements that seemed inconsistent with may be systemic undercurrents of racial issues that Wheaton College’s doctrinal convictions, and is in are at play that we don’t want to acknowledge.” no way related to her race, gender, or commitment Ms. Hawkins’s case may be resolved within the to wear a hijab during Advent.” next month. The administration has compiled a roughly 40-page memo, she said, outlining why TRADITION AND DIVERSITY she should be fired, including her assertion of religious solidarity with Muslims and Jews, and that Yet Ms. Hawkins and others question how wel- Muslims and Christians worship the same God. coming Wheaton is of diverse viewpoints and A Faculty Personnel Committee, consisting of styles. “All evangelical colleges have to ask what di- nine tenured faculty members, will review evi- versity means,” said Gary M. Burge, a professor of dence from both sides and make a recommenda- New Testament who added that he finds Ms. Haw- tion to Wheaton’s president, Philip G. Ryken. His kins’s views in keeping with the faith statement. recommendation will then be forwarded to the “Genuine diversity is going to stretch the margins Board of Trustees for a final decision. of what’s comfortable for us.” More than Ms. Hawkins’s future is at stake. Pro- Michael S. Hamilton, an associate professor of fessors say this case raises the question of wheth- history at Seattle Pacific University who has writer the administration will allow faculty members ten about Wheaton and other religious colleges, the flexibility they thought they had to have lively said Wheaton is often uncomfortable with people debates on theological issues, and whether their who don’t fit into its Northern, white, fundamen- social-media posts will receive the same scrutiny talist tradition. “If you don’t sit in that tradition, that Ms. Hawkins’s have. “I think our academic then you don’t fit at Wheaton. But if you don’t fit freedom will be compromised if she is let go,” said in that tradition, they will pin your nonconformity Mr. Green. “I think it has already been compro- to the faith statement,” he said. “That’s what’s hap- mised.” pening in the case of Larycia Hawkins.” Ms. Hawkins agrees. “If I’m not safe at Whea- Faculty members also worry about how much ton,” she said, “no one is.” external constituents’ prejudices are pressuring the administration. Time magazine excerpted Editor’s note: On February 6, 2016, Wheaton an email that Mr. Jones sent to another profes- College and Ms. Hawkins announced in a joint sor, in which he described Ms. Hawkins’s Face- statement that they had “reached a confidential book statements as “innocuous” but noted that agreement under which they will part ways.”

Originally published on January 11, 2016

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 15 OPINION

Steven G. Salaita

GREG KAHN FOR THE CHRONICLE

n August 2014, I was fired from a tenured position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The firing made me a free-speech darling — or the world’s most violent person since Stalin, depending on your perspective. It also sparked a debate about academic freedom, faculty Why Igovernance, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the role of social media in university life. That debate rages with no resolution in sight. The story of my notoriety begins on July 21, 2014, when The Daily Caller ran an article about me titled “University of Illinois Professor Blames Jews for anti-Semitism.” With the brio and wisdom for which right-wing websites are known, I Was the piece begins, “The University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- paign has continued its bizarre quest to employ as many dis- gusting scumbags as possible by acquiring the services of Ste- ven Salaita, a leading light in the movement among similarly obscure academics to boycott Israel.” The article, and subsequent coverage, focused on sever- Fired al tweets I wrote in the summer of 2014. One tweet read: “At this point, if Netanyahu appeared on TV with a necklace made from the teeth of Palestinian children, would anybody By STEVEN SALAITA be surprised?” In another, I wrote, “You may be too refined

16 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the fucking West point out that much of my language is also gen- Bank settlers would go missing.” tle — arises in response to demonstrable acts of It has since become popular to call me uncivil. brutality that in a better world would raise wide- Or intemperate. Or inappropriate. Or angry. Or spread rancor. You tell me which is worse: cussing aggressive. It’s unseemly to describe myself, but in condemnation of the murder of children or us- because “unseemly” is an improvement over what ing impeccable manners to justify their murder. I many people now call me — why not? I am a de- no more want to be “respectable” according to the voted husband and a loving father. I never talk out epistemologies of colonial wisdom than I want to of turn. I deliberate for long periods before making kill innocent people with my own hands. Both are significant decisions. As is normal for somebody articulations of the same moral rot. born and raised in Southern Appalachia, I call ev- In 11 years as a faculty member, I have fielded erybody “sir” or “ma’am.” I do not raise my voice at exactly zero complaints about my pedagogy. Every people. I am deeply shy and chronically deferen- peer evaluation of my instruction — the gold stan- tial. That is to say, I am civil to a fault. dard for judging teaching effectiveness — has been This exegesis on my disposition probably seems stellar. Student evaluations ranked higher than unnecessary, but it’s important to distinguish be- the mean every time I collected them. Yet people tween somebody’s persona and his personhood, affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urba- though in most cases one informs the other. This na-Champaign have impugned my ability to teach. is the extent of my feelings on the matter: It is pre- Students are capable of serious discussion, of cisely because I am a loving person that I so ada- formulating responses, of thinking through dis- mantly deplore Israel’s behavior. comfort. They like my teaching because I refuse to My tweets might appear uncivil, but such a infantilize them; I treat them as thinking adults. judgment can’t be made in an ideological or rhe- I have never disrespected a student. I have never torical vacuum. Insofar as “civil” is profoundly ra- told a student what to think. Nor have I ever shut cialized and has a long history of demanding con- down an opinion. I encourage students to argue formity, I frequently choose incivility as a form with me. They take me up on the offer. I some- of communication. This choice is both moral and times change my viewpoint as a result. My philos- rhetorical. ophy is simple: Teach them the modes and practic- The piety and sanctimony of my critics is most es of critical thought and let them figure out things evident in their hand-wringing about my use of on their own. curse words. While I am proud to share some- The hand-wringing about students is pious, pre- thing in common with Richard Pryor, J.D. Salin- cious claptrap, a pretext to clean the stench from a ger, George Carlin, S.E. Hinton, Maya Angelou, rotten argument raised to validate an unjustifiable Judy Blume, and countless others who have of- decision. fended the priggish, I confess to being confused Troublesome assumptions underlie accusations as to why obscenity is such an issue to those who about my fitness for the classroom. It is impossi- supposedly devote their lives to analyzing the end- ble to separate questions about my “civility” from less nuances of public expression. Academics are broader narratives of inherent Arab violence. usually eager to contest censorship and decon- This sort of accusation has been used to discredit struct vague charges of vulgarity. When it comes people of color (and other minorities) in academe to defending Israel, though, anything goes. If for many decades. Administrators and the public there’s no serious moral or political argument in monitor and scrutinize our actions in a manner response to criticism of Israel, then condemn the to which our white colleagues are rarely subject. speaker for various failures of “tone” and “appro- It is crucial to train us in the ways of civility lest priateness.” Emphasis placed on the speaker and our emotions dislodge the ethos our superiors not on Israel. A word becomes more relevant than hold so dear. an array of war crimes. When it comes to opposing colonization, there is Even by the tendentious standards of “civili- no need for dissimulation, which is the preferred ty,” my comments on Twitter (and elsewhere) are vocabulary of the cocktail party and committee more defensible than the accusations used to de- meeting. I could make a case that dissimulation fame me. The most deplorable acts of violence is immoral. It is undoubtedly boring. When I say germinate in high society. Many genocides have something, I have no desire to conceal meaning in been glorified (or planned) around dinner tables oblique and wishy-washy diction. This is especial- adorned with forks and knives made from actual ly so when I respond to the various horrors of state silver, without a single inappropriate speech act violence and the depravity of those who justify it. having occurred. On campus, such forthrightness is unconventional. In most conversations about my termination, Is- But no tenet of academic freedom considers fail- rael’s war crimes go unmentioned, yet it is impos- ure to adhere to convention a fireable offense. sible to understand my tweets without that neces- Professors are often punished for disrupting sary context. My strong language — and I should convention in informal ways, however. My case is

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 17 interesting because administrators ignored the de is lucrative without also being corrupt. facto standards that regulate our behavior and ex- As Thomas Frank put it in an essay in The Baf- ercised their power directly. This should be worri- fler: some to any scholar who isn’t a sycophant. The coming of “academic capitalism” has been People with doctorates who make claims un- anticipated and praised for years; today it is here. supported by evidence and who uncritically repeat Colleges and universities clamor greedily these terms like “incivility” as if it describes anything days for pharmaceutical patents and ownership other than their own dull prejudice are the ones chunks of high-tech startups; they boast of being most unfit to teach college. “entrepreneurial”; they have rationalized and out- sourced countless aspects of their operations in the eing called an anti-Semite is deeply un- search for cash; they fight their workers nearly as pleasant. Those who make the accusation ferociously as a 19th-century railroad baron; and Bshould be responsible for providing evidence, the richest among them have turned their endow- yet it is I who has been saddled with the impossi- ments into in-house hedge funds. ble task of disproving a negative. Frank later pinpoints the reason for campus au- The rhetorical incoherence of my critics is ev- thoritarianism: ident in their ever-evolving justifications for my Above all, what the masters of academia spend firing. First I was anti-Semitic. Then I was uncivil. the loot on is themselves. In saying this, I am not Then I was a bad teacher. Then I was too charis- referring merely to the increasing number of uni- matic. Then I was too angry. Then I was too pro- versity presidents who take home annual “com- fane. Then I was too radical. Then I was too un- pensation” north of a million dollars. That is a patriotic. Then I wasn’t really hired. Then I was waste, of course, an outrageous bit of money-burn- unqualified in the field of American Indian stud- ing borrowed from Wall Street in an age when we ies. Then I benefited from nepotism. Then I was a ought to be doing the opposite of borrowing from poor scholar. Then my colleagues were incompe- Wall Street. But what has really fueled the stu- tent. Then my colleagues were deceitful. Then my dent’s ever-growing indebtedness, as anyone with colleagues were ignorant. Then the American In- a connection to academia can tell you, is the indian-studies program required special guidance. sane proliferation of university administrators. Then the decision to hire me was solely based The numbers validate Frank’s observation. Ben- on politics. Then indigenous studies was illegiti- jamin Ginsberg points out that in the past 30 mate. Then the entire damn field needed to be shut years, the administrator-to-student ratio has in- down. creased while the instructor-to-student ratio has Part of our charge as educators is to encourage stagnated. The rise of untenured, or non-tenure- students to find the language that will help them track, faculty exacerbates the problem; a significant demographic in academe lacks job security or the working conditions that allow them to maximize their pedagogical talent. Over a recent 10- year period, spending on administration outpaced Universities are spending on instruction. At American universities, there are now more administrators and their lucrative spaces; staffers than full-time faculty. In the past 10 years, administrative salaries have steadily risen while custodians and groundskeepers suffer the inevita- nothing is lucrative ble budget cuts — as do the students whose tuition and fees supplement this largess. without also When so much money is at stake, those who raid the budget have a deep interest in maintaining the reputation of the institution. Their privilege and being corrupt. the condition of the brand are causally related. The brand thus predominates. Its predominance often arrives at the expense of student well-being. translate instinct into concrete knowledge. It’s the Take the matter of sexual assault. Reporting kind of preparation we all need to survive the cap- rates have recently risen, but all versions of sexual italist marketplace. While antiauthoritarianism assault remain woefully underreported. There are may start as an attitude, it has infinite capacity to numerous reasons why a victim chooses to keep develop into an ethic. silent. One reason is that she may expect a whol- Distrusting the motivation of institutions and ly inadequate, or even hostile, response from her their managers often means demotion or recrimi- own university. In 2014, Columbia University field- nation. But there is reason to distrust authority on ed 28 federal complaints claiming the university campus. Universities are lucrative spaces; nothing had inadequately investigated reports of sexual

18 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 assault. Florida State University, with the help of ity to recognize and undermine bunk. In short, if the Tallahassee Police Department, orchestrated critical thinking is to be useful, it must endow a a clumsy cover-up of a rape allegation to protect reflexive desire to identify and understand the dis- the star quarterback Jameis Winston. A different guises of power. This sort of focus is low on the list of what universities want from students, just as critical thinking is a terribly undesirable quality in the corporate world, much more damning than selfishness Academics are usually or sycophancy. Let us then be honest about critical thinking: On the tongues of cunning bureaucrats, eager to contest it is little more than an additive to brand equity, the vainglorious pomp of smug, uptight autom- atons who like to use buzzwords in their Power- censorship. When it Point presentations. Critical thinking by faculty is even more unde- comes to defending sirable. In research institutions, we are paid to generate prestige and to amass grant money; in teaching-centered colleges, we enjoy excess en- Israel, though, rollments according to fine-tuned equations that maximize the student-teacher ratio. (In elite lib- anything goes. eral-arts colleges, we pamper the kids with simu- lations of parental affection.) Critical thinking is especially harmful to adjuncts, reliant as they are for income on the munificence of well-paid bosses category of sexual assault infamously occurred at who cultivate a distended assemblage of expend- Pennsylvania State University, where the onetime able employees. defensive coordinator of the football team, Jer- Nowhere in our employment contracts does it ry Sandusky, was found to have molested various say, “Challenge the unarticulated aspirations of the children, some of them on campus. The universi- institution, especially when it acts as a conduit and ty’s complicity is but an extreme instance of a com- expression of state violence; and please try your mon phenomenon. best to support justice for those on and off cam- In this era of neoliberal graft, universities bare- pus who are impoverished by neoliberalism.” If we ly pretend to care about the ideals upon which practice critical thinking, though, it is difficult to higher education was founded. Sure, administra- avoid these obligations. tors and PR flacks still prattle about dialogue and Because of their high-minded rhetoric, it is self-improvement and the life of the mind, but tempting to believe that university managers care not even impressionable 18-year-olds believe that about ethics or maybe even about justice, but most claptrap. They know just as well as their superiors managers care about neither. The exceptions, that college is really about acquiring the mythi- of course, deserve our praise — just don’t poke cal-but-measurable status conferred to them by a around the highly ranked schools if you want to crisp sheet of cotton-bond paper. find them. The key to a successful managerial ca- As universities more and more resemble corpo- reer isn’t striving to be a good person, but develop- rations in their governance, language, and outlook, ing enough instinct to cheat and charm at oppor- students have become acutely brand conscious. tune moments. Guardianship of the brand thus predominates and Whatever independence can be acquired in aca- overwhelms the primacy of thought and analysis deme requires a fundamental distrust of authori- to which the academy is nominally committed. ty, be it abstract or explicit. There never have been Students no longer enter into places of learning. pure epochs of uncorrupted democracy, but in- They pay exorbitant prices to gain access to the creasing corporate control disturbs greater sectors socioeconomic capital of affiliation with the most of American life, particularly on campus. There recognizable avatars, adorned magisterially with has to be a better way to conduct the practices of armor and pastoral creatures and Latin phrases. education. Take that most sacred element of pedagogy, critical thinking. Many faculty don’t know how to do hat to do about injustice? I hear this it, never mind imparting instruction in the prac- question a lot since I was fired. I have no tice to those trying to learn it. (My conception of Wsolid answer. My instinct, which I fully “critical thinking” includes acting in some way on understand isn’t actually instinctive, is simply to the knowledge it produces, if only in the formula- tell people to do what they feel comfortable doing. tion of a dynamic ethical worldview.) One of the I’m not big on demands or injunctions. Yet I recog- greatest skills critical thinking provides is the abil- nize that as somebody who now exists in a public

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 19 position I am summoned to analyze a set of dy- scholars is already politicized. We have to publish namics in which I and the University of Illinois at more. It’s risky to be introverted because so many Urbana-Champaign are embroiled. These dynam- white colleagues cannot tolerate a minority who ics are especially important to folks in academe doesn’t pretend to like them. We have to act as di- who wish to pursue material commitments along- versity representative on all sorts of committees. side theoretical and philosophical questions. We cannot be mediocre because our tenure and Graduate students and prospective graduate stu- upward mobility rely on senior colleagues who re- dents are especially anxious these days. They are ward only their own mediocrity. It’s hazardous right to be. Decent humanities jobs are in decline. for us to show emotion because we’re aware of the Grad-school slots have become more competitive. possibility of confirming to others our innate un- Any advantage is a great asset. Being deemed a reason. Adding “activist leader” to this list of tasks troublemaker or a radical is no advantage. is a heavy undertaking. In many ways, simply de- Making trouble is precisely the function of the ciding not to appease power is an active form of intellectual, though. And being radical is a solid advocacy. It is the activism of survival. antidote to boring work. Getting fired doesn’t make me an expert on any- There’s always been repression and recrimina- thing. I’m doing my best to make sure something tion in academe. Anybody with an eye toward a productive comes of it, though. My having a job career as a scholar has to internalize this reality. changes nothing if the system that orchestrated Aspiring and established scholars should not ab- my ouster remains intact. I am merely a symbol dicate intellectual commitments in order to please of the stark imperatives of the wealthy and well the comfortable. This would be careerism, not in- connected. We all are, really. Unless the system quiry. changes at a basic level, everybody is merely buy- And that’s the point. If we don’t examine rela- ing shares in a corporation with the power to dis- tionships of power and highlight the disjunctions solve our interests the moment we become an in- of inequality, then we’re not doing our jobs. (We convenience. will be according to the preferences of the managerial class, but pleasing its functionaries isn’t Steven Salaita holds the Edward W. Said Chair generally the mark of an interesting thinker.) Up- of American Studies at the American Universi- setting arbiters of so-called common sense is an ty of Beirut. This essay is adapted from his new immanent feature of useful scholarship. book, Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of “What can/should we do?” is not a univer- Academic Freedom, just out from Haymarket sal question. Consider that the labor of minority Books.

Originally published on October 5, 2015

20 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 At Yale, Painful Rifts Emerge Over Diversity and Free Speech

By SARAH BROWN

MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE CHRONICLE After a series of controversies, some students are complaining that university leaders have not done enough to eliminate racism from the campus. Above, students cross a quad where chalk messages express support for the protesters.

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 21 lack women matter.” “History is met with about four dozen students later on Thurs- watching.” “I refuse to be complicit.” day. According to students who were present, Mr. Dozens of messages like those were Salovey told them that the university had failed scrawled in chalk on a wide swath of them. In a message to the campus on Friday, Mr. stone in front of Yale University’s largest Salovey wrote that the meeting had “left me deep- Blibrary on Thursday. By Friday evening they had ly troubled” and had “caused me to realize that we begun to fade, rubbed out in places by the steady must act to create at Yale greater inclusion, healing, stream of students’ shoes. mutual respect, and understanding.” But the tensions that have flared on the campus Mr. Holloway did not return a request for com- for the past week and a half seem likely to leave ment as of Sunday night. Mr. Salovey was not made a more permanent mark on this elite institution, available for an interview. which finds itself roiled by a heated debate about In an email to The Chronicle, Dr. Christakis race relations and free speech. said that he and his wife “care deeply about stu- At the heart of the controversy are two emails dents” and “have spent a lifetime caring for di- and a Facebook post. On October 28, Yale’s Inter- verse, underprivileged populations, and serving cultural Affairs Council sent a message that urged as educators.” students to reconsider wearing cultural costumes on Halloween that might offend some students. ‘YALE, WHERE DO YOU STAND?’ Erika Christakis, a Yale lecturer who serves as an associate master at one of the university’s 12 resi- The controversy that erupted here does not fall dential colleges, wrote a response questioning the easily along racial lines. Many white students stand need to exercise “implied control” over students’ in solidarity with the protesting students of color. choice of garb: “Is there no room anymore for a Some nonwhite students don’t agree with the heat- child to be a little bit obnoxious … a little bit inap- ed reactions of their community. propriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?” Senior administrators, too, seem conflicted. Her email generated significant backlash. And Mr. Holloway has defended the email advocating a Facebook post on an unrelated matter soon add- against potentially offensive costumes, while Dr. ed fuel to the fire. The post accused members of a Christakis has defended how his wife responded to Yale fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, of turning that message. away black and Latina women from a party, saying, On Friday, Yale’s campus featured vivid remind- “White girls only.” The chapter’s leaders have de- ers of the tensions. Fliers posted on bulletin boards nied the allegations, but the post went viral. Yale is stressed, in capital letters, that “we stand with our investigating the fraternity, which had already been sisters of color” and asked a question: “Yale, where suspended until next fall after a campus committee do you stand?” Signs left hanging outside of a build- found it had violated the university’s sexual-mis- ing after a protest asserted that “my race is not conduct policy. an intellectual debate” and that “this is what free The incidents have boiled over into widespread speech looks like!” anger among students of color here, who say that Some students weren’t talking about what had Yale officials have not sufficiently dealt with the happened. Others were; they sat on benches or challenges that minority students, particularly strolled around the campus, wondering whether women, face in academic and social circles. They this was a turning point for race relations at Yale. condemn university leaders for taking several days Jose Rodriguez, a freshman, said he had just dis- to respond publicly to the controversies, and are im- cussed the controversy at length with a friend. Mr. ploring them to do more to support racial-minority Rodriguez, who is Hispanic, said he understood groups. why some minority students were upset, but he per- Students’ frustration reached a peak on Thurs- sonally couldn’t relate. day, when two gatherings of students writing chalk He found Yale’s campus to be safe and welcom- messages turned into spontaneous forums with ing, which contradicts how many of his peers ex- university officials. Videos posted online show doz- pect him to feel. “I feel like a lot of what has hap- ens of students demanding answers from Jonathan pened over the course of this week has turned into Holloway, an African-American-studies professor fighting, and that’s not OK,” he added. who is the first black dean of Yale College, the uni- On the other hand, Isaiah Genece, a junior, said versity’s undergraduate division. They are also seen that “people have gone through so much in all their confronting Nicholas A. Christakis, a professor of time here, and have just never talked about it.” social and natural science who is master of Silliman He said in this case he supported students’ use of College, one of the residential communities; his strong language. “It’s absolutely crucial that people wife wrote the email that sparked students’ ire. Stu- saw the raw emotion and the raw pain that came dents frequently raised their voices and used exple- out as a result of this.” tives during the encounters. The next step should be a constructive dialogue Yale’s president, Peter Salovey, and Mr. Holloway about the treatment of minority students on the

22 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016 MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE CHRONICLE Some students contend that Yale officials have not sufficiently dealt with the challenges that minority students, particularly women, face in academic and social circles.

campus, said Nicole A. Tinson, a second-year stu- and said that his chapter and other Greek organi- dent in the divinity school who wrote a widely zations were planning a campuswide forum that shared open letter to Yale last week. Contrary to would take place this week. what many observers believe, Ms. Tinson said in an interview, “students are not asking to be accept- SPEECH AND CONSEQUENCES ed into parties where they are not wanted.” They are asking to be respected, she said. The debate at Yale also touches on common Around 11 p.m. on Friday, one week after the themes of free speech: Is asking some students to fraternity party at the center of the “white girls avoid offending others with their costumes or their only” accusations, the SAE chapter’s house was words a form of censorship? No, many students quiet. And Grant Mueller, its president, wasn’t say; it is simply a matter of respect. there; he was headed home to Houston. Requesting that students consider their costume “On Wednesday, I was walking down the side- choices more thoughtfully was not asking a lot, walk, and an African-American man spat at me said Dara Huggins, a junior who is president of the and told me to check my privilege,” Mr. Mueller Yale Black Women’s Coalition. “Can you wear it? said in a phone interview. “After that, I thought Technically, absolutely,” she said. “But that doesn’t it would be best to get off campus for a couple of mean you are absolved of responsibility when days.” someone confronts you and says, Hey, that’s offen- There was no “white girls only” policy at the par- sive. That doesn’t mean you get to holler, Oh, it’s ty, he said. The party was too crowded, Mr. Muel- free speech.” ler said, so a fraternity member began turning stu- But Mr. Rodriguez, the freshman, disagreed dents away. He said an African-American woman with how some Yale students had tried to make then retorted, “It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?” that point. “If somebody says something offensive The fraternity has a diverse membership, he to me, yeah, I’ll have a conversation about it, but I said. Still, he stressed that “just because we’re a di- don’t see a reason to fight,” he said. verse group of people doesn’t mean something like Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation this couldn’t happen.” for Individual Rights in Education, said by phone Mr. Mueller wanted his fraternity to help lead that he witnessed part of Thursday’s encoun- future conversations about race relations at Yale, ters between the students, Mr. Holloway, and Dr.

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 23 Christakis. The con- important, the students frontation was “one of say. (Yale had previ- the most intense free- ously announced that speech controversies it would devote $50 I’ve ever seen,” said Mr. million toward such ef- Lukianoff, who was in forts.) New Haven to speak Jacqueline Golds- at a conference on free by, chair of the Afri- speech. (About 100 stu- can-American-studies dents protested outside department, said she of the conference on attended an on-cam- Friday, after Mr. Luki- pus forum last Wednes- anoff allegedly com- day where students of mented that “looking color shared “sobering at the reaction to Erika accounts” of what they Christakis’s email, you had experienced. Ms. would have thought Goldsby said she had

someone wiped out an MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE CHRONICLE left the event “deeply entire Indian village.”) A party at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house worried for the intel- Ms. Christakis’s con- is the focus of one controversy. A Facebook post that lectual and personal cerns about policing went viral alleged that black and Latina women were welfare of black under- Halloween costumes, turned away and told “white girls only.” Fraternity graduates at Yale.” Mr. Lukianoff said in leaders deny the allegation. In his email to The the interview, are not Chronicle, Dr. Chris- uncommon. “But on takis wrote that “it is campus, students treat- quite a shock to be in ed it like Erika committed a war crime,” he said. the position we are facing, but we entirely under- “There were a lot of things being said that were stand the pain many students are expressing.” completely dismissive of any argument about free- Ms. Huggins did not think Dr. Christakis un- dom of speech.” derstood at all. She wanted him to resign from his Still, Ms. Huggins said that the exchange with administrative role. “Perhaps there is another way Mr. Holloway, at least, was productive. “There is a that he can contribute to the Yale community,” she lot more expected of him,” as one of the few black said. But as far as serving as a residential college’s administrators at Yale, she said. And she appre- master, which involves supporting students more ciated how he had reacted. “He didn’t argue. He directly, she said, “he might not be equipped for it.” didn’t get defensive. He just listened.” Dr. Chris- What did she hope Yale’s senior administrators takis, she said, “was, frankly, more aggressive.” would take away from the past week? “I already Ms. Huggins is among a number of students told them,” she said, referring to outspoken re- who are urging Yale’s administration to make marks she made to Mr. Holloway and Dr. Chris- changes, including required cultural-diversity takis during the confrontation. “And they should training for all students, faculty, and staff. Attract- remember what I said.” ing more minority professors to the campus is also

Originally published on November 9, 2015

24 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016

Students and OPINION faculty members at Yale U. rally to demand that the university become more inclusive.

ARNOLD GOLD, NEW HAVEN REGISTER VIA AP

tudents at the University of Missouri recently succeeded in pressuring the insti- When tution’s president and chancellor to step down. At other campuses across the country, we are witnessing a wave of similar Sprotests. Frequently, however, the students protest- Free Speech ing are being misrepresented and belittled in the news media as childish and coddled. More worry- ingly still, they are held to be attacking freedom of speech rather than exercising it to call for institu- Becomes tional reform — political action of the very kind this freedom aims at protecting. What explains this apparent paradox? In a word, propaganda. The notion of freedom of speech is be- a Political ing co-opted by dominant social groups, distorted to serve their interests, and used to silence those who are oppressed and marginalized. All too often, when people depict others as threats to freedom of Weapon speech, what they really mean is, “Quiet!” Recent events at Yale are an important case in

By KATE MANNE and JASON STANLEY

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 25 point. In late October, in anticipation of Hallow- people disagree about who should say what to een, Yale’s Intercultural Affairs Committee sent an whom — and how — either someone has to keep email to the student body. While affirming Yale’s mum, or someone’s speech act will come in for strong commitment to freedom of speech, it sug- criticism. gested that students be mindful of the perspectives Perhaps Erika Christakis did not intend to of minority groups when planning their costumes. weigh in on one side or the other of the culture “Yale is a community that values free expression wars. Her remarks nevertheless provoked a strong as well as inclusivity,” it read. “And while students, reaction from some students. This is not surpris- undergraduate and graduate, definitely have a ing, against the current political backdrop. Free right to express themselves, we would hope that speech has become an increasingly politicized is- people would actively avoid those circumstances sue at Yale and elsewhere. A few months ago, the that threaten our sense of community or disre- university’s William F. Buckley Jr. Program hosted spects, alienates or ridicules segments of our pop- the New York University social psychologist Jon- ulation based on race, nationality, religious belief athan Haidt. In his talk, Haidt invoked notions or gender expression.” Not a decade has passed like freedom of speech and the search for truth to since the last Yale student reportedly celebrated inveigh against “coddled” students. The obvious Halloween in blackface. target was groups who have historically been op- Some deemed the advice infantilizing and pressed and are now increasingly prone to calling heavy-handed. On October 30, Erika Christakis, attention to microaggressions. Haidt, together associate master of Silliman College at Yale, sent with Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation a response to this email to its student residents. for Individual Rights in Education, has argued re- She decried the “implied control” and “censure and cently in The Atlantic that these students are being prohibition from above” which she read into it. immature and oversensitive. Quoting her husband, Nicholas Christakis, master Following Christakis’s email, protests erupt- of Silliman, she wrote “if you don’t like a costume ed among students of color and their supporters. someone is wearing, look away, or tell them you Their political activity has since been written off are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and by many commentators as a silly tantrum thrown the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a in response to a one-off email, rather than a reac- free and open society.” tion to chronic, structural racial injustice — such The notion of freedom of speech tends to be as the persistent paucity of black faculty mem- ambiguous. It is used to refer to both the political bers and administrators at Yale, the common ex- right it enshrines, and the ethical ideal it embod- perience of being the only black student in some ies. The former is guaranteed in this country by classes, and being disproportionately likely to be the First Amendment to the Constitution. Togeth- stopped and asked for ID — or worse — by campus er with the 14th Amendment, this means that no- police officers, as students have movingly testified. body’s right to express himself or herself may be An article in the National Review went so far as to interfered with by the government. (The few ex- call these students of color “defective people from ceptions to the rule — unprotected speech — in- defective families” — an eyebrow-raising choice of clude acts like falsely claiming “fire!” in a crowded language. theater, “fighting words,” and slander.) The Christakises are of course not responsible Of course, in order to have genuine freedom of for the tensions their remarks brought to the sur- speech, one must also be free to question, contra- face. Indeed, Nicholas Christakis took to Twitter dict, and even lampoon the assertions of others. to make some of the very points in defense of Silli- Also protected is the right to say that someone man students which we make in this article. Nev- else’s choice of words was insensitive or inappro- ertheless, the protesting Yale undergraduates have priate, or that she ought not to have spoken up in become pawns in the culture wars, being demon- the first place. Censure is not the same thing as ized as threats to freedom of speech, rather than censorship; indeed, it could not be. The right not political agents engaged in its exercise. It is there- to be censored by the government extends to the fore past time to lay this myth to rest, and to ex- right to censure — that is, morally condemn — the pose its ideological function. speech acts of other people. This leads to a delicate and controversial ques- onsider the structure of the events at Yale. tion: To affirm the value of freedom of speech, and After the Intercultural Affairs Committee to keep from silencing others unethically, when Csent its original email, Erika Christakis op- may we encourage people to choose their words posed it — not merely its content, but the very act more carefully, or tell them they ought to have kept of their issuing it. The students then opposed her silent? When should we say that, although some- opposition — alleging that she ought not to have one had the right to say what he said, his saying it spoken as she did, given her position as associate was a problem? Even the most avid proponent of master of Silliman College. And many pundits freedom of speech cannot avoid this issue. When have, in turn, opposed their opposition — holding

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that the students ought not to be protesting thus. but have little hope of being listened to. So far, so similar; these speech acts are on a par The Michigan State University philosopher not only constitutionally, but also insofar as each Kristie Dotson describes this predicament as opposes the one aforementioned. “testimonial quieting,” as the philosopher Rachel Given these symmetries, why the markedly dif- McKinnon has helped us to see. When oppressed ferent reactions? Part of it is that, when people people speak out — and up, toward those in pow- lower down in social and institutional hierarchies er — their right to speak may be granted, yet their criticize the speech acts of those higher up, it often capacity to know of what they speak doubted as reads as insubordination, defiance, or insolence. the result of ingrained prejudice. And the way in When things go the other way, it tends to read as which they express themselves is often then made business as usual. the focus of the discussion. So it is not just that Why? In a 1988 paper, the Stanford psychologist these people have to raise their voices in order to Claude Steele proposed the existence of “a self-sys- be audible; it’s also that, when their tone becomes tem that explains ourselves, and the world at large, the issue, their speech is essentially being heard as to ourselves. The purpose of these constant expla- mere noise, disruption, commotion. Their freedom nations (and rationalizations) is to maintain a phe- of speech is radically undercut by what is aptly nomenal experience of the self — self-conceptions known as “tone policing.” and images — as adaptively and morally adequate Moreover, we often tune into the action only — that is, as competent, good, unitary, stable.” when people have reached a breaking point. And Self-affirmation theory predicts that members of then we wonder why they are yelling, ignoring the groups that have benefited from practices of exclu- history of the crescendo. sion, and have sometimes been actively complicit Such is the case at Yale. Black students have tes- (more or less unwittingly) in sustaining them, will tified to daily experiences of chronic, structural experience a serious disruption of their sense of racism. But it is not the sort of racism that is gen- self when confronted by injustice. erally considered newsworthy. It is not the sort of The Yale philosopher Christopher Lebron has racism that attracts the attention of a largely white theorized the ways that privileged whites often audience. There are no black bodies on the pave- subscribe to legitimizing myths in order to main- ment to focus on. The violence being done is sub- tain their self-conception as good people in a racist tler — and often, as Dotson argues, epistemic. society. Presenting oneself as a martyr to the cause When a group of adults is dismissed as children, of a cherished ideal like freedom of speech is one we ought to be highly suspicious that this sort of way to do that. It simultaneously serves to discred- violence is at issue. The idea that oppressed and it the people calling for change — including, in this marginalized people should “grow up” has a long case, the resignations of the Christakises from Sil- and ugly history. Women have frequently been dis- liman College. (Not just on the basis of the email, missed using this stereotype, for instance. And but because of growing discontent with their nar- the thing about children is that it is not always row focus on freedom of speech to the exclusion possible, nor even desirable, to reason with them. of actually fostering engagement among Silliman Sometimes they need to be given incentives, ne- residents. In resigning as masters, the Christakis- gotiated with, or managed — and, in some cases, es would remain Yale faculty.) simply quietened. Calling the student protesters But didn’t Erika Christakis, and most though not “coddled” serves to excuse those touting freedom all of her defenders, express their views in a much of speech as an ideal to spurn it in reality. They are more reasonable tone of voice than the students trying to use the master’s tools to prevent the mas- protesting? Yes. But sounding reasonable can be ter’s house from being dismantled — or, as here, a luxury. Such speech trusts, even presumes, that the masters themselves from being ousted. one’s words will be received by a similarly reasonable, receptive, even sympathetic, audience. Op- Kate Manne is an assistant professor of philos- pressed people are often met with the political an- ophy at Cornell University. Jason Stanley is a alogue of stonewalling. In order to be heard, they professor of philosophy at Yale University. He is need to shout; and when they shout, they are told the author, most recently, of How Propaganda to lower their voices. They may be able to speak, Works (Princeton University Press).

Originally published on November 13, 2015

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 27 AP IMAGES Members of Concerned Student 1950 protest last fall at the U. of Missouri at Columbia. After a year of widespread campus protests, Mizzou and other colleges are reworking their free-speech policies. In a Time of Tension, Universities Craft New Free-Speech Policies

By ARIELLE MARTINEZ

f things had gone according to the administration’s plans, the 24-campus City University of New York would have a new free-speech policy by now. But that didn’t happen. CUNY’s Board of Trustees was to vote on a proposed policy at its June 27 meeting, but the decision has been postponed indefinitely. “It was clear Ifrom testimony at the public hearing on June 20, 2016, and other communications that there are questions and concerns about the proposed policy,” the online calendar for the meeting reads. “A proposed policy will be considered by

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the Board of Trustees at a later time, following ad- law-enforcement officials would use a broad inter- ditional consultation and discussion.” pretation of “prohibited conduct” to crack down The policy would, among other things, regulate on free speech. He is also concerned that the pro- the use of university property and facilities for “exposed policy was made in response to protest pressive conduct” like demonstrations and leaflet- movements that were led by minority students. ing. The resulting policy is racist, he said, and the insti- Supporters say the proposal would advance the tution should focus on improving the experiences university’s commitment to protecting free speech, of its marginalized students. but opponents say it contains restrictions that Before the public hearing on the proposed free- would inhibit demonstrations. speech policy, CUNY revised the proposal to take College campuses were the sites of highly pub- out sections that would have prohibited demon- licized protests against racism this past year, and strations in areas other than those “that have been one survey shows that freshmen in 2015 were more designated by the educational units of CUNY for likely to join protests than freshmen in any of the demonstrations.” previous five decades. This summer, new free- But Sean M. Kennedy, coordinator of advoca- speech policies are growing out of the protests, cy and education for the CUNY Adjunct Project, and colleges must decide what the balance be- which is affiliated with the Doctoral Students’ tween free speech and public order will look like in Council, argued that the revision was not enough the coming academic year. because some prohibitions remain. “CUNY is a public institution,” he wrote in an email, “so osten- ‘RESTRICTIONS SHOULD BE ROLLED BACK’ sibly all of it is a public area, and demonstrations should be able to occur anywhere.” Frederick P. Schaffer, CUNY’s senior vice chan- Azhar Majeed, director of policy reform at the cellor for legal affairs and general counsel, points Foundation for Individual Right in Education, or to Black Lives Matter and the Boycott, Divest- FIRE, said his organization opposed CUNY’s ini- ment, and Sanctions movement as contributing to tial proposal for designated demonstration areas. his university’s proposal. The proposal “seemed to leave it up to the dis- “There’s just been a number of incidents and cretion of the individual CUNY campuses to controversies across the country that have raised determine where or where not students could questions where people have said either, ‘My free- demonstrate,” Mr. Majeed said. “We were pleased speech rights are being violated,’ or other people that due to student feedback, the office of the gen- have said, ‘There should be limits,’” he said. eral counsel proposed to get rid of those sections, A working group — led by Mr. Schaffer with rep- with the rest of it being acceptable.” resentatives from the University Faculty Senate, FIRE has no problems with the current version the University Student Senate, and college pres- of the proposal, and any concerns about the word- idents in the system — began laying the ground- ing seem to be misguided, Mr. Majeed said. work for the proposal in the fall. Mr. Schaffer said part of the proposal had been But the Doctoral Students’ Council, the student modeled after a statement adopted by the faculty government representing CUNY’s Graduate Cen- at the University of Chicago in 2014 that has been ter, has renounced the proposal and petitioned on widely regarded as one of the strongest declara- Change.org for its dismissal. tions in support of free speech to come out of any “We are advocating for a policy that guarantees college or university. free speech and does not have any restrictions on “That’s a key point that a number of student time, place, and manner,” said Hamad Sindhi, the groups … either are missing or choosing to ignore,” council’s co-chair for communications. “We de- Mr. Schaffer said. “CUNY is joining other univer- nounce any efforts by the police to suppress pro- sities around the country who are standing firm in tests.” favor of a very, very wide — almost unlimited, but Mr. Schaffer has criticized the council’s stance not quite — berth for freedom of expression.” on the proposal, saying that supporting no limits But Mr. Kennedy said that he is against the on free speech is “a point of view I don’t think is adoption of any new policy regulating free speech, one that any university can accept. It certainly isn’t adding that the administration “already tries to one that is accepted by First Amendment jurispru- limit and chill protest under existing protocols.” dence.” One problem the council has with the policy is ‘AS LIGHT A TOUCH AS POSSIBLE’ its definition of the term “prohibited conduct,” including “any behavior that adversely affects or di- Meanwhile, the University of Missouri at Co- rectly threatens to negatively affect the health or lumbia is working on its own proposal for a poli- safety of persons or their opportunity to enjoy the cy concerning the use of university facilities and benefits of the university.” grounds for free speech, but the governing board Mr. Sindhi suspects that administrators and will not vote on it before the fall.

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 29 The university’s flagship was the site of pro- go to court, but we try to keep things from escalat- tests of racism organized by the group Concerned ing to that level.” Student 1950 last fall that led to the resignations of the university system’s president, Timothy M. QUESTIONING FREE-SPEECH ZONES Wolfe, and the Columbia chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin. The protests also stirred national debates Colleges’ free-speech policies aren’t just state- about First Amendment rights when demonstra- ments of ideals. They can sometimes end up land- tors tried to block student journalists from enter- ing an institution in court. ing their encampment. The University of Georgia revised its policies Ben Trachtenberg, a professor of law and chair last year after the libertarian group Young Amer- of the university’s Faculty Council, and Hank Fo- icans for Liberty said the university had banned ley, the interim chancellor, started the committee demonstrations outside of two designated areas on that drafted the policy. its campus. “We want to regulate free speech with as light And the University of South Carolina at Colum- a touch as possible but not so light a touch where bia is facing a lawsuit from its chapters of College people think they can say whatever they want Libertarians and Young Americans for Liberty af- whenever they want however they want wherever ter a student said the university had investigated they want,” Mr. Trachtenberg said. “For example, him for his role in organizing a protest of speech you can’t protest in the ambulance bay of the hos- restrictions last fall. pital, no matter how important your message is.” Last month a federal judge ordered North Car- The proposed policy would reinforce an exist- olina State University to temporarily halt enforce- ing ban on camping overnight on the campus — a ment of a policy that requires a permit for solicita- practice used in the Concerned Student 1950 pro- tion on the campus after a Christian student group tests — and would prohibit violence, disruption claimed the policy was unconstitutional. of educational activities, and disruption of events The group, Grace Christian Life, alleged that for which an area of campus has already been re- administrators had prohibited its members from served. speaking and distributing literature about the “Let’s say you want to have a wedding on cam- group to other students. pus, and you reserve one of the fields for it,” he “Students live on the campus. It’s like their city,” said. “Should students be able to start a pick-up said Tyson Langhofer, a lawyer for the Alliance soccer game on the field and kick the ball at your Defending Freedom, which is representing Grace head? No. If protesters are on the sidewalk next Christian Life in the lawsuit. “They do everything to the field and they get so loud that you can’t hear there, they live there, they eat there. So we want the priest, should they have to leave? Maybe. It the university to think of it like our cities. A city does get a little complicated.” wouldn’t have free-speech zones.” The University of Missouri’s proposed policy, But the university said in a statement that it like CUNY’s, is modeled after the University of “has never required students to get permits to en- Chicago statement on free speech. gage and talk to other students — regardless of Mr. Trachtenberg said that although he under- the subject matter. The university’s administrative stands the concern that critics of the CUNY poli- process for handling thousands of solicitation re- cy may have about potential abuse of phrases like quests each year was never intended to prohibit “prohibited conduct,” interpretation will be a con- student conversations and has never been applied cern with any policy. in that manner.” “As a law professor, I don’t think I’ve ever read The judge’s preliminary injunction is a tempo- an unambiguous statute,” he said. “That’s just the rary fix, Mr. Langhofer said, and the lawsuit’s ul- limits of human language. All policy requires some timate goal is for the university to permanently ambiguity and some discretion. If a person feels change its free-speech policies. as though a law-enforcement officer has violated “The only permit students need,” he said, “is the their First Amendment right, I suppose they can First Amendment.”

Originally published on July 12, 2016

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OPINION What Students Think About Free Speech

By ERWIN CHEMERINSKY and HOWARD GILLMAN

lthough it is foolhardy to general- our students were skeptical of well-established ize about a generation of college stu- precedents for the protection of offensive or hate- dents, their understanding and at- ful speech. Why? Here’s what we learned from titude about freedom of speech was them: strikingly different from what we, two This generation has a very strong and persistent baby-boomers,A expected when we began teaching instinct to protect others against hateful, discrim- a course on free speech on college campuses to 15 inatory, or intolerant speech, especially in educa- freshmen at the University of California at Irvine. tional settings. In the course we studied the basic principles of This is the first generation of stu- freedom of speech, including its history through dents to be educated, from a Supreme Court decisions addressing restrictions young age, not to bully. For on speech during World War I, World War II, as long as they can re- the McCarthy era, the civil-rights move- member, their schools ment, and the Vietnam War. We have organized “tol- discussed categories of speech erance weeks.” Their that have been traditionally teachers and coach- considered outside of First es are (thankfully) Amendment protection — less likely to mock or such as incitement, fight- shame students for ing words, true threats, poor performance. harassment, and defa- Compared to when the mation. We also looked at two of us were in mid- all of the decisions on stu- dle and high school in the dent speech and focused 1960s and ’70s, there are much a great deal of attention on greater efforts to avoid making young peo- recent controversies on college ple feel bad about themselves. campuses. Our students often related personal stories of At the very beginning of the course how bullying at school and on social media had we discussed the story of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon affected people they cared about. They are deep- fraternity members at the University of Oklaho- ly sensitized to the psychological harm associated ma who had been videotaped chanting racist slurs with hateful or intolerant speech, and their in- aboard a bus. We had the students consider a hy- stinct is to be protective. We realized that com- pothetical scenario in which one of the expelled mon descriptions of this generation of college students sues the university, claiming a violation students too often omits this sense of compassion of First Amendment rights. When asked to vote and the admirable desire to protect their fellow whether the student or university should win the students. lawsuit, our students voted unanimously in favor Additionally, arguments about the social value of the university and against free-speech rights. of freedom of speech are very abstract to today’s We concluded the course by polling them again on undergraduates because they did not grow up at a the same problem, and then the students split al- time when the act of punishing speech was associ- most evenly. The difference in the discussion was ated with hurting people and undermining other remarkable; the instinctive desire to eradicate worthwhile values. Our students knew little about racist speech was replaced by all of the students the history of free speech in the United States and seeing the need to strike a balance between free had no awareness of how speech often had been speech and creating a positive learning environ- directed to helping vulnerable political minori- ment for all on campus. ties: anti-imperialists, workers’ rights advocates, Still, despite some evolution in their thinking, and progressives in the 1910s and ’20s; religious

CHRONICLE REVIEW PHOTO BY JULIA SCHMALZ o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 31 minorities during World War II; leftists during cruits plan terrorist attacks. the McCarthy era; civil-rights advocates; anti-war They supported the rights of Westboro Baptist protesters during the Vietnam War; student free- Church protesters, known for staging antigay pro- speech advocates. tests at military funerals, among other spectacles, The two of us grew up during the time of civ- even though that speech was deeply offensive and il-rights and anti-Vietnam War protests. Much inflicted emotional harm. But in educational set- of the speech that was considered important to tings, they wanted officials to do all they can to protect was raucous and even profane. Protesters create a supportive learning environment. There burned draft cards, flags, and bras; cities pros- was no support among our students for the right ecuted people who wore T-shirts that expressed of a faculty member to resist a university require- obscene sentiments about the draft; authors, pub- ment to include “trigger warnings” on syllabi. They lishers, and even comedians risked jail by pushing acknowledged the right of a faculty member to against historic prohibitions against indecency criticize such a mandate, but as was the case with or obscenity. We saw firsthand how officials at- their K-12 teachers, they thought the main role tempted to stifle or punish protesters by claiming of the faculty member was to create a nurturing that they were defending community values or re- learning environment, not to be confrontational. sponding to threats to the public peace. We also They were not used to teachers who believed that saw how stronger principles of free speech assist- learning could take place in an environment where ed the drive for desegregation, the push to end the students were made uncomfortable, or were forced war, and the efforts of to reflect on disturb- historically margin- ing topics, or had alized people to chal- their views challenged lenge convention and The historic link rather than always express their iden- validated. tities in new ways. Studying free- In our experience, between free speech speech law made speech that was some- them much more nu- times considered of- and the protection anced in drawing dis- fensive, or that made tinctions as to what people uncomfort- speech to allow and able, was a good and of dissenters and what to punish. Some necessary thing for drew a distinction progress. vulnerable groups is based on whether the hateful speech was or today’s stu- outside the direct directed to others or dents, the histor- expressed more gen- Fic link between erally. This accounts free speech and the experience of for some of the change protection of dissent- in votes regarding the ers and vulnerable today’s students. Sigma Alpha Epsilon groups is outside their fraternity example. direct experience, and But they worried that too distant to affect if the university only their feelings about freedom of speech. As a result, restricted speech that amounted to “harassment” their initial instinct was to be more trusting of the or “true threats,” there would still be too much government and other public institutions, includ- room for exclusionary, discriminatory, or insulting ing the university, to regulate speech to protect speech by people on campus. students and prevent disruptions of the education- The students came to recognize that campus of- al environment. ficials should not protect people from being made As the course went on, our students gained uncomfortable by the expression of strongly-held a deeper understanding of the potential for the political or religious views. They agreed that cam- abuse of power when officials are authorized to re- puses should not be cleansed of all controversial strict unpopular speech. However, they continued opinions or all expressions that some might con- to be concerned that the court’s categories of un- sider offensive. protected speech were not broad enough to deal Still, they remained skeptical of the value of de- with certain harms that concerned them. For ex- fending hateful or discriminatory speech that was ample, they worried that the definition of “incite- not clearly tied to deeply held beliefs about religion ment” was not broad enough to allow the govern- or politics. Divisive ideas that were sincerely held ment to stop international terrorists from using seemed like a different thing than being mean, try- the Internet to recruit converts and help those re- ing to make people feel bad, or other speech acts

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that seemed to have no social value worth protect- will be automatically appreciated by a generation ing. The on-campus presence of people who had that has not lived through decades-long struggles hateful or judgmental opinions — even if those against censorship and punishment of protesters, opinions were expressed off campus or online — dissenters, and iconoclasts. As American history was a serious matter of concern. Our students ac- has demonstrated, there is no natural or inevita- knowledged that one could decide to deal with this ble instinct to support speech that many people problem with more speech rather than restrictions consider disruptive, offensive, or even countercul- or punishments, but they were not sure this was tural. The country has a much longer history of enough to protect their peers from psychological suppressing unpopular speakers than protecting distress. them. The pro-free-speech case needs to be made Finally, we realized that current debates about anew, and it is not the responsibility of incoming the appropriate boundaries of campus free speech students to have already internalized the argu- will not be a mere replay of 1990s battles over ments. campus “hate speech” codes. In making the case, pro-speech advocates will We found what has recently been reported by not win any new friends if they are dismissive of the Pew Research Center to be true: Millennials this generation’s expectation that we care about are much more supportive of censoring offensive the psychological impact that hateful and intol- statements about minorities. They are also much erant speech has on its victims. The necessity of less amenable to being persuaded by countervail- creating supportive and nondiscriminatory learning arguments about the need to protect hateful ing environments must be acknowledged, and ad- speech. This is not just a matter of not being ex- vocates will need to be explicit about how broad posed to pro-speech arguments or not taking them protections for speech — including offensive and seriously. These were bright and thoughtful stu- hateful speech — can be reconciled with this com- dents at a leading research university, and they are mitment. thinking about these issues in fresh ways. As debates continue about the appropriate Erwin Chemerinsky is founding dean and a pro- boundaries of free speech on college campuses, fessor at the University of California at Irvine strong free-speech advocates — and we consider School of Law. Howard Gillman is chancellor of ourselves in this category — cannot assume that the University of California at Irvine and a pro- the social benefits of broad free-speech protections fessor of law, political science, and history there.

Originally published on April 3, 2016

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 33 OPINION

KATHERINE STREETER FOR THE CHRONICLE Free Expression in Peril

By GEOFFREY R. STONE

ntil recently, and for roughly half principle. a century, American universities en- Universities must educate our students to un- joyed an era of relatively robust aca- derstand that academic freedom is not a law of na- demic freedom. In the past few years, ture. It is not something to be taken for granted. though, that has changed. Ironical- It is, rather, a hard-won acquisition in a lengthy Uly, the threat to academic freedom in the United struggle for academic integrity. States today comes not from government and not Students today seem not to understand that, from the institutions themselves but from a new until well into the 19th century, real freedom of generation of students who do not understand the thought was neither practiced nor professed in nature, the fragility, and the importance of this American universities. Before then, any freedom

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of inquiry or expression in American colleges was distinguished institutions as Columbia University smothered by the prevailing theory of “doctrinal and the University of Virginia merely for “encourag- moralism,” which assumed that the worth of an ing a spirit of indifference toward the war.” idea must be judged by what the institution’s lead- Similar issues arose again, with a vengeance, ers considered its moral value. Through the first during the post-World War II Red Scare. In the half of the 19th century, American higher educa- late 1940s and the 1950s, most universities ex- tion squelched any notion of free discussion or included from academic life those even suspected of tellectual curiosity. Indeed, as the nation moved entertaining Communist sympathies. Yale’s presi- toward the Civil War, any professor or student in dent, Charles Seymour, went so far as to boast that the North who defended slavery, or any professor or “there will be no witch hunts at Yale, because there student in the South who challenged slavery, could will be no witches. We will neither admit nor hire readily be dismissed, disciplined, or expelled. anyone with Communist sympathies.” Between 1870 and 1900, however, there was a genuine revolution in American higher education. e now face a similar set of challenges. We With the battle over Darwinism, new academic live today in an era of political correctness goals came to be embraced. For the first time, to Win which students themselves demand criticize as well as to preserve traditional moral censorship, and colleges, afraid to offend those stu- values and understandings became an accepted dents, too often surrender academic freedom. function of higher education. In recent years, student pressure thwarted In 1892, William Rainey Harper, the first presi- speakers’ scheduled appearances at Brown Uni- dent of the University of Chicago, could boldly as- versity, Johns Hopkins, Williams, and elsewhere. sert: “When for any reason the administration of a Colorado College suspended a student for making a joke considered antifeminist and racist. William & Mary, De Paul University, and the University of Colorado all disciplined students for criticizing af- “College students firmative action, and the University of Kansas disciplined a professor for condemning the National used to demand the Rifle Association. At Wesleyan University, after the school newspaper published a student op-ed criticizing the right to free speech. Black Lives Matter movement, students demanded that administrators defund the paper. At Amherst Now they demand the College, students demanded that the administration remove posters stating that “All Lives Matter.” At Emory University, students demanded that the freedom from speech university punish whoever had chalked “Trump 2016” on campus sidewalks because, in the words they find upsetting.” of one, “I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe. … I don’t deserve to feel afraid at my school.” And at Harvard, African-American students demand- university attempts to dislodge a professor or pun- ed that a professor be taken to the woodshed for ish a student because of his political or religious saying in class that he would be “lynched” if he sentiments, at that moment the institution has gave a closed-book examination. ceased to be a university.” But, despite such senti- The latter is an example of a so-called “microag- ments, the battle for academic freedom has been a gression” — words or phrases that may make stu- contentious and a continuing one. dents feel uncomfortable or “unsafe.” Such micro- For example, in the closing years of the 19th aggressions, whether uttered by students or faculty century, businessmen who had accumulated vast members, have been deemed punishable by col- industrial wealth began to support universities leges and universities across the nation. A recent on an unprecedented scale. But that support was survey revealed that 72 percent of current college not without strings, and professors who offended students support disciplinary action against any wealthy trustees by criticizing the ethics of their student or faculty member who expresses views business practices were dismissed from such lead- that they deem “racist, sexist, homophobic, or oth- ing universities as Cornell and Stanford. erwise offensive.” Then, during World War I, when patriotic zealots Another recent innovation is the much-dis- persecuted and even prosecuted those who ques- cussed “trigger warning.” A trigger warning is a tioned the wisdom or the morality of the war, uni- requirement that before professors assign readings versities collapsed almost completely in their de- or hold classes that might make some students feel fense of academic freedom. Students and professors uncomfortable, they must warn students that the were systematically expelled or fired at even such readings or the class will deal with sensitive top-

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 35 ics like rape, affirmative action, abortion, murder, demic freedom at American universities, the Uni- slavery, the Holocaust, religion, homosexuality, or versity of Chicago’s president, Robert J. Zimmer, immigration. charged a faculty committee last year with the And then there’s disruption: If students who dis- task of drafting a formal statement on freedom agree with a speaker’s views can’t get a speech can- of expression. The goal of that committee, which celed, they disrupt the event to silence that speaker. I chaired, was to stake out Chicago’s position on Too often, college administrators, fearful of seem- these issues. That statement has since become a ing unsympathetic to the protesters, terminate the model for a number of other universities. Here are events because of the disruptions and then fail to some examples of its central principles. discipline the disrupters for their behavior. n “It is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opin- ow did we get here? It was not long ago ions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even when college students were demanding the deeply offensive.” Hright to free speech. Now they demand the n “Concerns about civility and mutual respect right to be free from speech that they find offensive can never be used as a justification for closing off or upsetting. discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagree- One often-expressed theory is that students able those ideas may be to some members of our of this generation, unlike their predecessors, are community.” weak, fragile, and emotionally unstable. They’ve n “The University may restrict expression that been raised, the argument goes, by parents who violates the law, that falsely defames a specific in- have protected, rewarded, and celebrated them in dividual, that constitutes a genuine threat or ha- every way from the time they were infants. There- rassment, that unjustifiably invades substantial fore they’ve never learned to deal with challenge, privacy or confidentiality interests, or that is oth- defeat, uncertainty, anxiety, stress, insult, or fear. erwise directly incompatible with the core func- They are emotionally incapable of dealing with tioning of the university. But these are narrow challenge. exceptions to the general principle of freedom of But if that is so, then the proper role of a univer- expression.” sity is not to protect and pamper them but to pre- n “The university’s fundamental commitment is pare them for the difficulties of the real world. The to the principle that robust debate and delibera- goal should not be to shield them from discomfort, tion may not be suppressed because the ideas put insult, and insecurity, but to enable them to be ef- forth are thought by some or even by most mem- fective citizens. If their parents have, indeed, failed bers of the University community to be offensive, them, then their colleges and universities should unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed. It is for the save them from themselves. individual members of the community, not for the There is, however, another possibility. It is that university as an institution, to make those judg- students, or at least some students, have always ments for themselves, and to act on those judg- ments not by seeking to suppress speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose.” “The core obligation n “Although members of the university are free to criticize and contest the views expressed on campus, and to criticize and contest speakers of a university is to who are invited to express their views on campus, they may not obstruct or otherwise interfere with invite challenge to the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe.” Why should a university embrace these princi- the accepted wisdom.” ples? First, bitter experience has taught that even the ideas we hold to be most certain often turn out to felt this way, but until now they were too intimi- be wrong. As confident as we might be in our own dated, too shy, too deferential to speak up. If so, wisdom, certainty is different from truth. The core this generation of college students deserves credit, obligation of a university is to invite challenge to because instead of remaining silent and oppressed, the accepted wisdom. they have the courage to demand respect, equality, Second, history shows that suppression of and safety. speech breeds suppression of speech. If today I am I think there is an element of truth in both of permitted to silence those whose views I find dis- these perspectives, but I am inclined to think that tasteful, I have then opened the door to allow oth- the former explains more than the latter. ers down the road to silence me. The neutral prin- Faced with the continuing challenges to aca- ciple, no suppression of ideas, protects us all.

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Third, a central precept of free expression is the and faculty members the importance of winning possibility of a chilling effect. That problem is es- the day by facts, by ideas, and by persuasion, rath- pecially acute today because of social media. Stu- er than by force, obstruction, or censorship. For a dents and faculty members used to be willing to university to fulfill its most fundamental mission, take controversial positions because the risks were it must be a safe space for even the most loath- relatively modest. After all, one could say some- some, odious, offensive, disloyal arguments. Stu- dents should be encouraged to be tough, fearless, rigorous, and effective advocates and critics. At the same time, a university has to recognize “Should students be that in our society, flawed as it is, the costs of free speech will fall most heavily on those who feel the most marginalized and unwelcome. All of us feel allowed to express that way sometimes, but the individuals who bear the brunt of free speech — at least of certain types whatever views they of free speech — often include racial minorities; religious minorities; women; gay men, lesbians, and transsexuals; and immigrants. Universities want, however offensive? must be sensitive to that reality. Although they should not attempt to “solve” this Yes. Absolutely.” problem by censorship, universities should support students who feel vulnerable, marginalized, silenced, and demeaned. They should help them thing provocative, and the statement soon disap- learn how to speak up, how to respond effective- peared from view. But now, every comment you ly, how to challenge those whose attitudes, whose make can be circulated to the world and called up words, and whose beliefs offend and appall them. with a click by prospective employers or graduate The world is not a safe space, and we must enable schools or neighbors. The potential costs of speak- our graduates to win the battles they’ll have to ing courageously, of taking controversial positions, fight in years to come. of taking risks, is greater than ever. Indeed, ac- But hard cases remain. As simple as it may be to cording to a recent survey, about half of American state a principle, it is always much more difficult to college students now say that it is unsafe for them apply it to concrete situations. So let me leave you to express unpopular views. Many faculty mem- with a few cases to ponder. bers clearly share that sentiment. In this climate, it A sociology professor gives a talk on campus is especially important for universities to stand up condemning homosexuality as immoral and call- for free expression. ing on “normal” students to steer clear of “fags, perverts, and sexual degenerates.” What, if any- ow should this work in practice? Should thing, should the chair of the sociology depart- students and faculty be allowed to express ment do? In my judgment, this is a classic case of Hwhatever views they want, however offen- academic freedom. The professor is well within sive they might be to others? his rights to offer such opinions, however offensive Yes. Absolutely. others might find them. Should those who disagree and who are offend- A student hangs a Confederate flag, a swasti- ed be allowed to condemn that speech and those ka, an image of an aborted fetus, or a “Vote for speakers in the most vehement terms? Yes. Abso- Trump” sign on the door of his dorm room. What, lutely. if anything, should administrators do? The univer- Should those who are offended and who disagree sity should not pick and choose which messages to be allowed to demand that the university punish permit and which to ban. That is classic censor- those who have offended them? Yes. Absolutely. ship. But in the context of a residence hall, where Should the university punish those whose students are a bit of a captive audience, the univer- speech annoys, offends, and insults others? Abso- sity can have a content-neutral rule that bans all lutely not. signs on dorm-room doors. That is the core meaning of academic freedom. The dean of a university’s law school goes on Fox Does that mean the university’s hands are tied? News and says “Abortion is murder. We should fire No. any female faculty member and expel any female A university should educate its students about student who has had an abortion.” The university the importance of civility and mutual respect. president is then inundated with complaints from These values should be reinforced by education alumni saying, in effect, “I’ll never give another and example, not by censorship. nickel to your damn school as long as she remains A university should encourage disagreement, ar- dean.” What should the president do? A dean or gument, and debate. It should instill in its students other administrator at a university has distinctive

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 37 responsibilities. If she engages in behavior, includ- In such circumstances, the protesters should be ing expression, that renders her effectively inca- removed and disciplined for their behavior. (De- pable of fulfilling her administrative responsi- Paul’s president, the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschnei- bilities, then she can be removed from her po- der, apologized to the speaker but also criticized sition. This is necessary to the core functioning “speakers of his ilk” for being “more entertainers of the institution. At the same time, though, if and self-serving provocateurs than the public in- the dean is also a faculty member, she cannot be tellectuals they purport to be.”) disciplined as a faculty member for the exercise Or consider the incident last year at the Univer- of academic freedom. sity of Oklahoma when a group of fraternity broth- We needn’t rely solely on hypotheticals. There ers, in a private setting, chanted a racist song. was the situation at DePaul University in which a Someone who was present at the time filmed the student group invited a highly controversial speak- event and circulated it online. Was the universi- er who maintains, among other things, that there ty’s president, David Boren, right to expel the stu- is no wage gap for women, that as a gay man he dents? In my judgment, no. can attest that one’s sexual orientation is purely a As these examples attest, there are, in fact, mar- matter of choice, and that white men have fewer ginal cases. But we should not let them obscure advantages than women and African-Americans. the clarity of our commitment to academic free- A group of student protesters disrupted the event dom. That commitment is now seriously and dan- by shouting, ultimately causing the talk to be can- gerously under attack. It will be interesting to see celed. They maintained that their shouting was whether our universities today have the courage, merely the exercise of free speech. the integrity, and the fortitude — sometimes lack- What should the university do in such circum- ing in the past — to live up to the highest ideals of stances? Should it permit the protest? Arrest the a “true” university. protesters on the spot? Allow them to protest and then punish them after the fact? Geoffrey R. Stone is a professor of law at the Uni- Such a disruption is not in any way an exercise versity of Chicago, where he formerly served as of free expression. Although students can protest dean of the law school and provost of the univer- the event in other ways, they cannot prevent ei- sity. This essay is adapted from a keynote speech ther speakers or listeners from engaging in a dia- he gave at the Scholars at Risk Network 2016 logue they wish to engage in without obstruction. Global Congress, in Montreal.

Originally published on August 26, 2016

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OPINION The Free-Speech Fallacy

By JASON STANLEY

n February 3, Jasbir Puar presented tred of Jews,” “medieval blood libel”) have pre- a paper at Vassar College critiquing Is- dictably led to a wave of violent threats against raeli policy toward Palestinians. Puar, Puar, which of course strongly discourages other an associate professor of women and academics from taking similar positions in pub- gender studies at Rutgers University, lic. Their argument is presented as a defense of Ois an influential intellectual. Her 2007 book, Ter- the ideal of free speech against a campus culture rorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer hostile to it. But its explicit recommendations and Times, has been cited over 1,700 times, a level of easily foreseeable effects would in fact erode that impact few academics achieve in a lifetime. Puar is very ideal. controversial. She is also an agenda-setting schol- The article’s portrayal of left-wing social justice ar: Her lecture was sponsored by eight different as a threat to free speech continues a theme dat- departments. ing back to the fall, when nationwide campus pro- On February 17, The Wall Street Journal pub- tests calling for racial justice were represented as lished an op-ed about Puar’s lecture, titled “Ma- threats to free speech. Yet it has traditionally been joring in Anti-Semitism at Vassar.” It was writ- left-leaning students and faculty who lead cam- ten by Mark G. Yudof, former president of the pus protests in support of social justice and free University of California, and Ken Waltzer, pro- speech. fessor emeritus of history at Michigan State Uni- To understand this paradox, we must look to versity. The article attributes to Puar the claim those scholars who have been central in framing that Israel allows Palestinians only the bare min- recent campus debates. Well before the events of imum needed to survive, and that Israel mines the fall, this group produced a body of work that the organs of dead Palestinians for scientific re- underlies the narrative that academe suffers from search, evidence used to accuse her of reviving a leftist ideological uniformity that conflicts with the “blood libel” against Jews. The authors con- free speech. The New York University psychologist clude by urging “faculty and administrators … to Jonathan Haidt is a key figure here. Haidt’s article confront this wave of anti-Semitism with the pri- in The Atlantic, “The Coddling of the American mary tools at their disposal: free speech and rig- Mind,” written with Greg Lukianoff of the Foun- orous academic inquiry. This is what a university dation for Individual Rights in Education, was the is for, after all.” most prominent summation of this view. But it fol- A central purpose of the university is to allow lows the work of many others. disputes about significant moral and political is- In September, the Heterodox Academy was sues to take place in the classroom instead of on formed. Its stated mission is to promote “view- the battlefield. Free speech is essential to that point diversity” in academe as a way to encourage mission. According to Yudof and Waltzer, it is not objectivity, free speech, and better research. In a the policies of Israel that explain its lack of sup- much-discussed article published in Brain and port on campus, but leftist ideology, which it urges Behavioral Sciences, six members of Heterodox those in positions of authority to condemn. Israel’s Academy argued that a “liberal progress narrative” standing on campus may be a result of leftist ide- dominates academe. They describe it as the belief ology, or it may be a response to Israeli policies (or that traditional societies suffered from unjust in- some combination of both, or neither). It’s a con- equality, such as exclusion of women from high- tentious political issue, just the sort that a com- er education, but were then overcome by modern, mitment to free speech requires we leave to open liberal democratic-welfare societies. According to debate. this narrative, the dominance of leftist ideology But an institution controlled by people who con- results in a left-wing “moral matrix,” which cre- demn one of the positions in advance lacks an at- ates an “environment of intolerance for diversity of mosphere conducive to open debate. Indeed, it’s ideas and dissent.” hard to avoid reading Yudof and Waltzer as advo- Haidt, a founder of the Heterodox Academy, de- cating this anti-free-speech message when they scribes “left-leaning” institutions as “cut off” from write “hatred of Israel and Jews should not implic- the moral vocabulary required to defend freedom itly be characterized as merely another perspective of speech, and led by social-justice concerns that to be debated.” chill free speech. John McWhorter, a linguist at Yudof’s and Waltzer’s rhetorical excesses (“ha- Columbia University and Heterodox Academy

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 39 member, gives anti-racism as an example, arguing ously consider whether we should employ torture, that “antiracism is now a religion…. Certain ques- but there is no legitimate political perspective, tions are not to be asked, or if asked, only politely.” even one which many of us reject, that could make The goal of the Heterodox Academy is to persuade sense of an analogy between apartheid South Afri- universities to hire scholars who question this nar- ca and Israel? rative, thereby restoring free speech. In Haidt’s tweet linking Yudof’s and Waltzer’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, he declared Puar’s talk hat, exactly, is the tension between anti- a threat to the safety of Jewish students, laying re- racism and free speech? If I tell you that sponsibility on the campus culture. He mentions Wyou shouldn’t say racist things, am I real- nothing about Puar’s free-speech rights. I must ly denying you the right to say those things? I told confess failure to see in any of this the vaunted my mother the other day that she shouldn’t tell me payoff of objectivity. that I am overweight. Was I challenging her free- Recent campus protests were an opportunity to dom of speech? I tell students in my mathematical test out the Heterodox Academy’s specious narra- logic class they shouldn’t make certain errors. Is tive. Students have voiced opposition to racial bias. my class a hotbed of illiberalism? Is free speech re- The most common complaints concern the per- ally imperiled when activists argue that a football sistent lack of faculty of color, and damaging racial team shouldn’t be called “the Redskins”? stereotypes. But what does this have to do with The political diversity at issue in the writings of free speech? Heterodox Academy members is the narrow spec- Students are right to be upset when they raise trum between liberals and conservatives. These genuine concerns and are met with evasion. Of categories are occasionally used as if they natural- course, being told that merely taking seriously ly corresponded to “Democrat” and “Republican.” their concerns is a threat to free speech would be This bizarrely narrow view of political diversity even more upsetting, though that is in fact the of- conveniently fits into an argument to hire conser- ficial position of the Heterodox Academy, whose vatives, but not Marxists or critical race theorists. members argue that social-justice concerns, which “Liberal” and “leftist” are used interchangeably explicitly include, as we have seen, antiracism, are throughout their writings, as if there isn’t a femi- threats to free speech. nist critique of liberalism. Where are the Marxists All year, the charge of imperiling free speech or feminists in economics, a discipline that is, ac- has been used to silence oppressed and margin- cording to Haidt, “the only social science that has alized groups and to push back against their in- some real diversity”? terests. Shockingly, this misuse of free speech is In a 2014 paper published in the Harvard defended, explicitly and repeatedly, by absurd ar- Journal of Law & Public Policy, Nicholas Quinn guments that place freedom of speech in opposi- Rosenkranz, a Heterodox Academy member and tion to social justice, activism, and even liberalism. professor of law at Georgetown University, de- Students subjected to this misshapen conception cries liberal overrepresentation in law schools. of freedom of speech would be well within their But again, most feminists, Marxists, and critical rights to resist, on grounds of basic plausibility. Or race theorists do not identify as liberals, and law knowledge of history. The journalist A.H. Raskin, schools notoriously lack advocates of these stan- describing the Berkeley campus unrest in the dard leftist positions. This failing of political di- 1960s, writes: versity is rendered invisible by the partisan setup of this research program. The proudly immoderate zealots … pursue an Heterodox Academy members trumpet their activist creed — that only commitment can strip narrow notion of political diversity as a boon to life of its emptiness, its absence of meaning in a objectivity and better research. In 2006 Steven great “knowledge factory” like Berkeley. Pinker, a Heterodox Academy member and Har- vard psychologist, lamented the lack of investiga- And who were these activist “zealots,” burning tion into certain “dangerous ideas.” An example he with a commitment to social justice? They were gives: “Would damage from terrorism be reduced students advocating for open political discussion. if the police could torture suspects in special cir- From the vantage point of the current debate, it is cumstances?” But what about the absent questions ironic that they became known as the Free Speech he doesn’t mourn? Haidt has written off the field Movement. of anthropology on the grounds that it takes seriously the question of whether the Boycott, Divest- Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale ment, and Sanctions movement against Israel is University. He is the author, most recently, of How justifiable. So we need “political diversity” to seri- Propaganda Works (Princeton University Press).

Originally published on February 25, 2016

40 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016

OPINION Russia, Land of Free Speech

By LAURIE ESSIG

PEP MONTSERRAT FOR THE CHRONICLE REVIEW

’m back in Russia, where I can finally speak fear of angering students or administrators. freely. Perhaps I should explain. This will no doubt come as a surprise to my With the reinvigoration of Cold War rhet- American colleagues, one of whom asked me, oric, many in America picture Russia as a “Why would you spend your sabbatical in Russia?” bunch of homophobic politicians and church No matter how often I explained the reasons, she Ileaders stomping out all but officially sanctioned would forget and ask me again, a kind of nation- discussion. And, um, yeah — that’s accurate. But alistic dementia. Here, on the other hand, most as someone who has lived, worked, studied, and of my Russian colleagues can’t imagine that there taught in both countries since 1984, I can tell you might be any censorship in the United States, that it’s just part of a far more complicated picture. where higher education is perceived as the gold Recently I met another professor from the Rus- standard for the free exchange of ideas. sian university where I teach. She, too, is well To be clear, censorship in Russia is real, perva- versed in American and Russian academe, and we sive, and deeply troubling. It comes from above — found ourselves bonding over a shared sense that for instance, the government ban on “homosexual it’s somewhat easier to teach in Russia these days propaganda” and an even more opaque law against than in the United States. Both of us felt that there offending religious sensibilities. was less censorship in our Russian classrooms, less I was recently invited to give a talk about my

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 41 current research at a large academic conference in ire, feminist theory, or gay literature. Despite the Moscow. I told the organizer that my recent work oppressive state censorship, educated people did is about Russia’s state views on homosexuality then what they do now: They created spaces in within the context of a nationalist agenda. Since which they could say what they thought. In cer- such a talk would violate the ban on homosexual tain universities, departments, and classrooms; propaganda to minors — students under 18 would around someone’s kitchen table; and at political be in the audience — she asked if I would speak on gatherings in parks and cafes, no one ever forbade older work (which I did). anyone else’s speech. When speech offended or un- Moscow’s city council in August shut down a dermined the ethics of those gathered, vigorous film festival known for its queer content and other debate ensued. And Gorbachev’s Russia was not ostensibly radical and controversial themes. The Stalin’s. People were not hauled off in the middle council based its decision, it said, on “difficult eco- of the night for what they said outside of the public nomic conditions,” but it replaced the festival with sphere. a new “positive, youth-oriented one.” Moreover, state censorship spurs unofficial acts eanwhile, in America, censorship em- of hate, destruction, and narrow-mindedness. In anates from within universities. The de- Moscow, Russian Orthodox hooligans destroyed Msire for safe spaces has created a mine- an art exhibit that they accused of “offending re- field of forbidden speech that students, professors, ligious sensibilities.” And in August, not far from and administrators alike must navigate. It is not that these forms of censorship are meaningless or ill-intentioned. They come out of a deep and abiding sense that we owe one another respect, that Russian academe structural inequalities can play out in personal in- teractions, and that symbolic violence is, in fact, violence. As Sara Ahmed argues in a recent essay, becomes a free-speech this impulse to control speech is an attempt to include previously excluded people in the conversa- bubble within an tion: “Trigger warnings are assumed as being about being safe or warm or cuddled. I would describe oppressive state. U.S. trigger warnings as a partial and necessarily inadequate measure to enable some people to stay in academe becomes a the room so that ‘difficult issues’ can be discussed.” I respectfully disagree. In my experience, more-honest conversations happen in Russian repressive bubble within classrooms than in American ones precisely because of the current Western intellectual climate a dynamic, chaotic encouraging us to avoid speech rather than engage with it. Moreover, this chilling effect falls democracy. hardest on academics low on the ladder: the ever-growing number of untenured and contract faculty members. That has racial and gender implications, too. where I live in St. Petersburg, two men tore down Tenured professors, far less vulnerable to student a prized century-old bas-relief of Mephistopheles evaluations, are more likely to be white and male on a building across the street from a church un- than adjuncts are. Professors from marginalized der construction. A letter sent by a self-proclaimed groups are more likely to receive negative stu- Cossack taking responsibility for the act said the dent reviews. The result is that in many American sculpture was offensive to Orthodox believers. classrooms, the powerless must watch what they An old joke here is that “the laws in Russia are say far more than the powerful do. so strict because everyone ignores them.” It’s not In my American classrooms, I have been asked funny, but it does get at the resistance that has to put trigger warnings on most of what I discuss long thrived here. At my Russian university, snug- in my courses, which are about gender, race, and gled safely within the intelligentsia, people are sexuality and therefore full of potentially volatile committed to the free exchange of ideas. The rev- images and texts. I want everyone to be part of the erence for saying what you mean dates back to the conversation, but I am not sure this is the answer. Soviet era. If I were not tenured, I just wouldn’t teach about As an undergrad and then a graduate student in social power, because it is ugly, messy, and likely to Russia, I knew people who risked their freedom, upset people. even their lives to publish journals of political sat- In my Russian classrooms, I show and talk

42 f r e e s p e e c h t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion / o c t ob e r 2016

about whatever I think will help us dig deeper into students will be exposed to racist, sexist, and ho- the texts. I don’t worry about what it will trigger mophobic speech. That’s inevitable. But the pro- in students. And they aren’t interested in stopping test, too, should be inevitable. Protest does not me; they prize the freedom to speak their minds shut down free speech; it is free speech. Calling truthfully. That is because outside of the class- speech out for being oppressive is part of the dia- room, theirs is a highly censored world. logue and a way of “staying in the room” even when The other day I was teaching Talcott Parsons’s you feel that you’re not wanted there. theory of sex roles. I started discussing his daugh- If what we disagree with is only ever said pri- ter, Anne, an anthropologist and “career woman” vately, and we are never given the chance to con- who was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit, where test speech we find offensive, then our places of she eventually killed herself. I might not have men- higher education will become far more like Rus- tioned the suicide in the U.S., at least not with- sia’s public sphere: an intellectual dead end. out wincing, knowing that someone would point Wouldn’t that be ironic? Russian academe be- out that it could trigger someone in the room. But comes a free-speech bubble within an oppressive Anne Parsons’s suicide, in the framework of her state, and American academe becomes a repres- father’s normative sociology and patriarchy, is not sive bubble within a dynamic, chaotic democracy. just part of the story; it is the point. I wanted my It is not that speech is freer in Russia. But there Russian students to know this, but I might have is a deeper and fuller understanding that knowl- shielded my American students. edge demands contestation. We can never know Perhaps that is the real difference between class- the world by shutting it out. You can force dis- rooms in America and Russia. In Russia, the com- agreement to move out of the open, into the little mon enemies of all free thinkers are the state and nooks and crevices left after power has cleansed the church. Intellectuals of all stripes understand all offensive speech. But you can never make the this and so huddle together and agree to disagree, disagreement disappear. to shout, yell, and say what they really mean. Russian intellectuals have long understood that In America, the enemy is internal and there- the ability to say what they really think is one of fore more difficult to locate. Am I the enemy for the few battles worth fighting. If only America’s not giving trigger warnings and for refusing to educated classes understood that. Hearing speech stop all microaggressions in my classroom? Are that is meant to exclude, speech that is racist, sex- the enemies my students, many from marginal- ist, homophobic, is sometimes painful. But it is ized groups, for demanding safer spaces? Maybe also necessary to the joy of discovering one’s own it is the administrators who make academic la- voice. bor more and more precarious and thus more and more nervous? Perhaps we are all our own worst Laurie Essig is a professor of sociology and gen- enemies. der, sexuality, and feminist studies at Middle- The truth is that as long as racism, misogyny, bury College. She is a Fulbright Scholar at the and homophobia are entrenched in our culture, European University at St. Petersburg.

Originally published on October 11, 2015

o c t ob e r 2016 / t he chron icl e of highe r e duc at ion f r e e s p e e c h 43 THE CHRONICLE of Higher Education®

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