The college free-speech debate is based on a false assumption: free speech doesn’t truly exist on campus
Is Free Speech Really Available on College Campuses?
Should universities punish students who chant genocidal slogans aimed at Jews or sign petitions blaming women and children for their own murders? It’s a worthwhile debate about open discourse. But don’t let it obscure a more relevant fact: There is no free speech on campus.
Not really. Not in any way that matters. And certainly not for those who would dissent against the quackery of identitarianism, intersectionality, and “anti-colonialism” — and a host of other pseudointellectual “-isms” that currently infect education.
If American campuses actually housed robust, open discourse, these “elite” schools wouldn’t be churning out so many moral imbeciles and credentialed ignoramuses who detest the country and civilization that makes “protest” possible. The near uniformity in outlook speaks to the fact that dumb ideas go unchallenged in these hermetically sealed institutions.
It also goes without saying that if Harvard students were signing statements blaming black Americans for the existence of white supremacy or calling for an international Intifada against gay populations, we would already be awash in an overwrought national conversation about the limits of free expression.
Everyone knows, of course, that no such thing would ever happen in the first place. Defending free expression when one side can monopolize debate is worse than an empty gesture.
But even nominally controversial right-of-center ideas barely have a place in these schools. Academic freedom is a myth. Elite schools don’t explicitly prohibit dissenting views. They have merely expelled, neutralized, grandfathered out, and replaced those ideas. Outside of STEM programs and perhaps a few other fields, academia is now dominated by extremists and quacks.
Years ago, I can recall Colorado University making a big show of searching for a professor of “conservative thought” — or some such thing — by which it meant they were looking for a person to teach a set of ideas that would, in any healthy university setting, already be embedded in an array of disciplines. Even when schools ostensibly try to do the right thing, conservatism is treated as a set of exotic notions — something akin to Zoroastrianism.
And it is quite humorous watching donors act like this all somehow snuck up on society. God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of “Academic Freedom,” the bestselling book that made William Buckley famous, was published in 1951. The opening line of the 1987 bestselling Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students, by Harold Bloom, reads, “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.”
Malleable truths lead academics to believe in malleable morals, science, and history, which then compels them to contextualize things like genocide. That’s where we’re at.
Now, we can’t bore into the souls of those suddenly and passionately interested in defending the values of free expression. But we do know most of them are nowhere to be found when the state is setting up Ministries of Truth or conservative speakers are being chased from campuses — or, rather, never invited to speak, much less teach.
Indeed, free speech is treated very much like plagiarism at places like Harvard. There are different sets of rules for different people. When a Cornell professor tells a crowd that the wanton murder of Jewish babies is an “exhilarating and energizing” event, he has an incontrovertible right to free speech without consequence. When the conservative Parkland survivor’s invitation to attend Harvard gets rescinded over slurs sent in private texts written when he was 16, not so much. This is a microcosm of the modern-day college experience.
Now, none of this would matter very much if credentialed extremists — armed with an impenetrable emotional certitude about the world but little else — weren’t populating our institutions of journalism, government, and academia. The biggest problem with our rotting universities is that they still matter.
It is debatable whether the hipster-Yasser Arafat cosplayers who bully and harass Jewish kids until they lock themselves in a library are engaging in any legitimate form of expression. Fortunately, no one in the real world has any responsibility to hire them. Freedom of association also matters.
Still, the answer to this kind of bigotry isn’t to give Jewish students special DEI coverage to protect them from ugly speech. Rather, and there is no panacea, universities should be ridding themselves of all DEI protections so everyone has the same opportunities to speak. Not only Jewish students but students who hold other heterodox views — say, a belief in God or a belief that skin color doesn’t define a person or a belief that the American founding was a windfall for humankind. They just need the same freedoms the pro-terrorist crowd already enjoys.
Or, to put in language a Harvard president might understand, let them all speak their “truth.”
In reality, free speech is not available in any meaningful way. Especially for those who dissent against ideologies such as identitarianism, intersectionality, and “anti-colonialism” that have become prevalent in the education system. These ideologies have infected higher education and effectively suppressed any dissenting voices.
If there were truly open discourse on American campuses, we wouldn’t see so many students with misguided moral values and a disdain for the very country and civilization that allows them to express their opinions through protests. The lack of diverse perspectives in these institutions is a clear indication that flawed ideas go unchallenged in these intellectually sealed environments.
It’s worth noting that if Harvard students were encouraging hate speech against any other group, such as blaming black Americans for the existence of white supremacy or promoting violence against the LGBTQ+ community, there would undoubtedly be a national conversation about the limits of free expression. However, defending free expression becomes an empty gesture when one side monopolizes the debate.
Even nominally controversial right-of-center ideas struggle to find a place in these institutions. Academic freedom, once considered a cornerstone of higher education, has become a myth. Elite schools may not explicitly prohibit dissenting views, but they have effectively silenced them through expulsion, neutralization, and gradual replacement. The dominance of extremists and pseudo-intellectuals in academia, outside of STEM programs, is a concerning trend.
Years ago, Colorado University made headlines for its search for a professor of “conservative thought.” This search highlighted the perception that conservative ideas were seen as exotic and outside the mainstream, rather than being embedded within a broad range of disciplines as they should be.
It is almost comical to see some donors act surprised by the lack of free speech on college campuses. Books like “God and Man at Yale” by William Buckley in 1951 and “Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students” by Harold Bloom in 1987 have long exposed the issues within academia.
This erosion of free speech has led academics to embrace malleable truths, which in turn compels them to contextualize and justify events like genocide. We have reached a point where academic freedom is all but lost.
While some individuals may passionately defend the values of free expression, they often remain silent when conservative speakers are barred from campuses or when state governments establish Ministries of Truth. Free speech is treated like plagiarism in elite institutions, with different standards applied to different individuals. An example is when a professor at Cornell University can make horrific statements about the murder of Jewish babies and face no consequences, while a conservative Parkland survivor has his invitation to Harvard rescinded over private text messages.
In conclusion, the notion of free speech on college campuses is more illusory than ever. Ideological uniformity and the suppression of dissenting voices have become the norm. It is crucial to address and rectify this issue to truly uphold the principles of open discourse, intellectual diversity, and academic freedom that are essential to higher education.
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