Is Free Speech Threatened on Campus?

Topics: Culture, Education

Public Release Date: March 01, 2016

Protests have erupted on university campuses across the country. To many, these students are speaking out against racial injustice that has long been manifested in unwelcoming, sometimes hostile environments. But to critics, their demands have gone too far, creating an atmosphere of intolerance for opposing or unpopular points of view. Are the protestors silencing free speech, or are they just trying to be heard? And are the universities responding by defending free speech, or by suppressing it?

ARGUING YES:

• Wendy Kaminer: Writer & Lawyer

• John McWhorter: Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, Linguist

ARGUING NO:

• Shaun Harper: Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Race & Equity in Education at University of Pennsylvania

• Jason Stanley: Professor of Philosophy at Yale University

MODERATOR:

• John Donvan: Emmy award-winning journalist