What really happened during the student protest against the findings of the Center for Equal Opportunity? W. Lee Hansen, professor emeritus of economics at UW-Madison, documents what he observed on September 13 and offers a new assessment of the controversy. He poses a number of “unanswered questions” pertaining to the episode. Here’s one:

Were the actions of the Vice Provost and the Dean of Students consistent with the guiding purpose of a university, and this one in particular, which is to use reason and argument rather than physical protest in addressing controversial issues? Did these two officials violate the spirit of the famous “sifting and winnowing” statement?

“Whatever May Be the Limitations Which Trammel Inquiry Elsewhere, We Believe That the Great State University of Wisconsin Should Ever Encourage That Continual and Fearless Sifting and Winnowing by Which Alone the Truth Can Be Found.” [See policy]