Indiana University has taken a courageous stance to protect freedom of speech on its campus.
The IU provost, Lauren Robel, indicated that “[an Indiana professor’s] views were racist, sexist and homophobic . . . They were ‘vile and stupid’ . . . [They] were consistent with someone who lived in the 18th Century . . .’”
Robel then said, “The First Amendment prohibited the university from firing the professor, Eric Rasmusen, for expressing his views.”
What a reversal from Berkeley, which cratered when a right leaning commentator was not allowed to speak, and students violently protested his presence on campus.
And more recently The Daily Northwestern, the school newspaper at Northwestern University, apologized for covering a speech made by Jeff Sessions, the former Attorney General in the Trump administration. After a highly charged condemnation by activists, the paper promised not to report, take photos or ask students to comment on any events that might offend any students or specific groups at the institution.
Thank you Indiana for stepping up to protect free speech, even if the purveyors of some perspectives are abhorrent. And thank you for recognizing that censorship subverts the right of every American to speak his or her mind.
Left wing professors and activists overrun colleges these days. It’s disappointing that some teachers poison their lesson plans by only presenting one side of the most controversial issues. True scholars encourage civil discussion and debate of opposing sides of the most important issues facing America.
College students will find that after graduation they will encounter many people who have different opinions than they do. Society away from universities is much more diverse.
The ability of Americans to freely speak their minds is our nation’s greatest freedom and is the basis of most other freedoms we enjoy in this country.