Loading…
14
A kid in my econ class asked why we don't just let all speakers talk. Prof's answer stuck with me.
Last month in my econ class at UNLV, a freshman asked why the school bothers disinviting anyone if free speech is the whole point. The prof, who's been there 22 years, said something simple: the invite itself is a choice, and choices have costs. He brought up a 2018 case where a speaker's talk led to 3 bomb threats and $47,000 in security bills the student fees had to cover. I'd never thought about the money side of it before. Has anyone else had a prof break down the actual dollar cost of a controversial speaker, or is that just a UNLV thing?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
wilson.jamie18d ago
The 2018 case with the $47,000 in security bills is wild, mostly because I never once thought about who pays for that stuff. At my old school some group brought in a guy who was mostly known for getting yelled at on cable news, and the student gov had to dip into the budget for extra cops and a metal detector setup. The best part was maybe 40 people showed up, half of them there to protest, so basically a few grand per bored sophomore in a folding chair. The prof has a point that the invite is a choice, but I wonder if the folks doing the inviting ever see that bill land on their desk. Feels like they find out after the fact, same as everyone else.
8