My campus talk got 37 signatures and the dean still said no

I organized a panel last semester at my state school about free speech limits in academia. We got 37 professors and students to sign a petition supporting it, which felt like a solid number. The dean's office rejected the request, saying the topic could 'cause disruption' without specifying how. I disagree with that call because avoiding hard talks seems like the real problem. Has anyone else had a panel shut down for being too controversial?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eva16d ago

Cause disruption" is the weakest excuse I've ever heard.

jadel6516d ago

Yeah, "cause disruption" is such a vague reason, it drives me nuts. It happened to a friend trying to host a talk on campus policing. They said the same thing, that it might "upset the climate." Like @the_eva said, it's a weak excuse that just shuts down conversation. Getting 37 people to sign on is a real show of interest, and it's frustrating when that gets ignored. They're basically admitting they'd rather avoid a tough talk than trust students to handle it.