My history professor invited a Holocaust denier to speak in 2019 and it split our class right down the middle

I took a course on free speech in America back in 2019 at a small college in Ohio. Our professor invited a man who publicly denies the Holocaust to debate a Jewish historian. About 40 students walked out during his opening statement, but 20 of us stayed to listen. One girl in the front row started crying and shouting at him to leave, but the professor let him finish his 45 minute talk. I keep going back and forth on whether that was the right call. Should a college let someone with hateful views speak if it means some students feel unsafe in the room?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbara_taylor8313d ago

Well I know a friend from back home who went to a similar event at her school and she told me it wrecked her for weeks after. She said the denier kept talking about numbers and documents and she just sat there thinking about her grandma's tattoo. I'm with you @jana_hernandez on this one, neutral is not the same as fair when someone is lying about your existence. That professor should have cut the talk way shorter or had the Jewish historian speak first.

jana_hernandez13d ago

The 20 of us who stayed in that Ohio lecture must have had very different ideas about what "debate" even means... I don't see how letting a Holocaust denier talk for 45 minutes teaches anyone anything except that their lies get a platform. That girl crying in the front row wasn't being dramatic, that's a real reaction to someone denying your family's history right in front of you. Honestly feels like the professor put being "neutral" above basic human decency, and that split happened because some people couldn't handle being complicit in that.