
Diversity and the Death of Free Speech - andrenth
https://spectator.org/diversity-and-the-death-of-free-speech/
======
bediger4000
" There was a time, not that long ago, when college students were encouraged
to expand their minds further."

It would be helpful if Mr Glynn put a closer bracket of dates around this.
While trying to figure out if this statement is true, I came across the
Wikipedia page on the "Free Speech Movement"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement)).
"Students insisted that the university administration lift the ban of on-
campus political activities and acknowledge the students' right to free speech
and academic freedom.". I guess "not too long ago" was after 1965, because
apparently before that, it was common for college campuses to ban political
speech and activity. I assume that UCB was, as always, a fore-runner, and that
most campuses had such bans until much later.

I think we can all agree that "not too long ago" means some time before 2008,
when Obama was elected. So we can bracket this utopia of free speech to
between 1965 - 2008. Before 1965, it appears that it was typical to ban all
political speech. With that bracket in mind, ask yourself if Mr Glynn's essay
makes any sense at all, or if it's an exercise in wishful thinking.

I'm eager for evidence to tighten these brackets further. I vaguely recall
that some campuses were considered bastions of conservatism on into the 1960s,
but I can't find any references easily. I'd love to see something about that.

~~~
raarts
I've been following the free speech issue on universities for almost a year
now, and I think the 2008 may be on the mark, though the first well known
incident I can name is the Lawrence Summers controversy in 2005 [1].

The free speech issue is mainly a talking point of conservatives because these
are the ones most impacted. Students complain about being afraid to voice
their opinions for fear of being ostracized or punished on grades.

It's enlightening to read through a few issues of The College Fix [2].

Relevant interesting book is The Coddling Of The American Mind by Jonathan
Haidt and Greg Luka off.

But it gets really entertaining when you watch some youtube videos on this
subject, for example the great, 3-part, documentary[3] by Mike Nayna.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers)

[2] [https://www.thecollegefix.com/](https://www.thecollegefix.com/)

[3] [https://youtu.be/FH2WeWgcSMk](https://youtu.be/FH2WeWgcSMk)

EDIT: and just after I wrote this, a research paper popped up, about army
veterans going back to college and experiencing culture shock:
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17475759.2019.1...](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17475759.2019.1592770?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app)

~~~
vangelis
As they say, conservative orthodoxy is the new punk rock.

