Speak Freely by Keith E. Whittington

Author:Keith E. Whittington [Whittington, Keith E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780691181608
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2018-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

Student Groups and Outside Speakers

Universities are complicated organizations, and many of the most visible disputes about free speech on campus have involved relatively marginal features of those institutions. This is not to say that those disputes are themselves unimportant, but they should be put in perspective and we should appreciate how they relate to the larger university culture and mission.

Some of the most visible recent disputes about free speech on college campuses have focused on outside speakers. The core of the learning environment at a university can be found in the classroom, faculty offices, and the library. It is in those spaces that new research is produced and students are taught. But those do not exhaust the intellectual opportunities on a college campus. The intellectual environment on a college campus would be significantly impoverished if it were reduced to its core of formal teaching and research.

Universities routinely host myriad speakers and events on their campuses. The purposes and intended audiences for these vary greatly, as do the ways by which they are selected. Some are primarily for entertainment. Some are largely ceremonial. Some are aimed at wide audiences, and others emerge from more narrow constituencies. Together they enrich the intellectual life of the campus, though the marginal value of any given event might be relatively small.

The sheer variety of visitors can place those concerned about free speech on campus in a bit of a bind. As a practical matter, some of the visitors of greatest interest to university officials and students make the smallest contribution to the intellectual climate of the university. Administrators routinely brag to parents and prospective students about the high-profile celebrities, from politicians to newscasters to movie stars, who have recently graced the campus. In the spring, higher education news outlets are filled with announcements of planned commencement speakers. Often enticed to campus by large speaker fees and promises of honorary degrees, such figures can generally be counted on to give inoffensive and mostly content-free remarks. At best, such talks can be entertaining. The celebrity of the speaker might help draw a larger audience, which might serve to stir some institutional pride and perhaps plant a seed for future thought in the heads of some of the attendees. At worst, an apparent public relations coup can turn into a public relations embarrassment. In light of a series of sexual assault charges, the honorary degrees conferred on the comedian Bill Cosby and the commencement addresses he delivered now seem tarnished.121 Revelations of the expense associated with bringing to campus such prominent figures as future presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, presidential offspring Donald Trump Jr., reality show notable Snooki, or movie actor Matthew McConaughey have cast a pall over what were intended to be feel-good events.122 Protests over the selection of such speakers as President Barack Obama, Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have marred what were intended to be celebratory events.123

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