Just had a heated exchange with a professor who tried to block a conservative speaker

Last semester at University of Texas, I sat in a department meeting where a professor literally said 'we should just not invite anyone who disagrees with our values.' I called him out and asked if he meant only liberal values counted. He got super defensive and said free speech is fine but 'hate speech' isn't protected. I pointed out that the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise multiple times. The whole room went silent and the chair just moved on. Has anyone else had a prof try to silence a speaker before the invite even goes out?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa39412d ago

Used to be totally on the free speech is dangerous train a few years back. Thought we needed to protect everyone from bad ideas. Then I saw how banning speakers just made them into martyrs and gave them way more attention. It made me realize that letting people say dumb stuff openly is better than driving it underground where it gets worse. Changing my mind on that was rough but necessary.

knight.diana12d ago

Friend of mine out in Arizona had this exact thing happen. She was on the student activities board and they were voting on a speaker with conservative views. One professor on the committee stood up and said they'd look 'irresponsible' for hosting someone who might 'harm the campus climate.' My friend pushed back and asked if that meant they only approved left-leaning speakers. The professor went quiet, then tried to claim it was about 'factual accuracy' not politics. She pointed out that the school already had a policy for that and it didn't apply here. The whole thing just fizzled out and the speaker ended up getting approved anyway, but the tension was thick for weeks after.