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. ©2016 by The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, forwarded (even for internal use), hosted online, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For bulk orders or special requests, contact The Chronicle at [email protected] ©2016 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INC. TABLE OF CONTENTS 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 CAMPUS VIOLENCE THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION / OCTOBER 2016 ©2016 THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INC. OPINION My Title IX Inquisition By LAURA KIPNIS CHRONICLE REVIEW ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT SEYMOUR 4 FREE SPEECH THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION / OCTOBER 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 OCTOBER 2016 / THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION FREE SPEECH 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.