Free Speech

It's not easy to speak up on behalf of a colleague under face-to-face attack from students, but we must do so to defend our free speech, argues Jonathan Zimmerman.

Nancy Thomas describes the campus environments to eschew, as well as those to nourish, in order to encourage free expression, inclusion and learning.

Joanne Berger-Sweeney cites the lessons learned from a controversy at her institution involving race, politics, campus safety and competing claims of ownership over who has the right to speak and what they can and cannot say.

University of Mississippi’s general counsel has drafted a harassment policy that allows students to be punished for a single incident, atypical among colleges.

Is there a different way of thinking, Judith Shapiro asks, about significant speech events on campuses?

University of Nebraska professors want board to defend them against Republican politicians who, after incident with lecturer, have launched a series of salvos against English faculty members and the entire institution.

Colleges and universities aren’t eager to punish students who shout down speakers, but they must follow their own policies and foster an environment conducive to free speech, experts say.

Freedom of speech, even that which is hateful and repugnant, is the price we pay for democracy, writes Ana Mari Cauce, and as educators we can and should protect it.