Overheard a professor in the humanities building say 'free speech is just a tool for the powerful' and I nearly choked on my coffee

I was sitting in the hallway between classes at U of T last Tuesday and this prof was ranting to another about how campus speech codes are needed to 'protect the vulnerable' - but like, doesn't protecting everyone's speech also help the vulnerable speak out, or am I missing something obvious here?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_mitchell18d ago

Totally feel you on this. I overheard a similar rant from a history prof at my uni last year, and I remember standing there thinking, "Wait, doesn't free speech let the vulnerable speak out against the powerful?" Like, if you're a student from a marginalized background, isn't the ability to criticize the administration or a loud political group literally your only tool? The logic just breaks down for me. Feels like some academics think free speech only helps rich white guys, but I've seen plenty of quiet students use it to call out stuff that matters to them. Honestly makes me wonder if they've ever actually listened to anyone outside their own hallway.

hannaho5218d ago

Okay but hold on, let me push back a little. Doesn't the prof have a point about how free speech gets used in practice? Look at hate speech laws in Europe or even campus speech codes. They don't exactly get used to shut down random rich white guys. They get used to shut down people saying uncomfortable things about race or religion. And that "quiet student" you saw? Maybe they were just loud enough to get away with it. But what about the trans student who gets shouted down in a dorm debate for saying gender critical stuff? Or the Black kid who got in trouble for a joke about white people? Free speech is a great idea on paper, but in real life it's always the people with power who get to decide what counts as "protected speech.