On many American campuses, freedom of expression is an endangered species due to the domination of students, faculty, and administrators who are intolerant of speech they disagree with. Think of the way law students at Yale recently reacted to Kristen Waggoner of Alliance Defending Freedom — a shout-down that prevented any presentation of ideas. Hate replaced debate.
At Davidson College, there is movement toward reviving the spirit of open, civilized discussion, and Shannon Watkins discusses it in today’s Martin Center article.
In 2018, a group of alumni formed Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse, and now there’s a new initiative on campus, the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI). DCI recently held an event entitled Democracy and Freedom of Expression, featuring a talk by Dr. Leila Brammer of the University of Chicago.
Watkins writes that, “Brammer began her talk by getting to the heart of this question. For one, free expression is ‘rooted in the idea that we all need to have a voice,’ or else the silencing of one voice will eventually lead to the silencing of ‘all voices.’ The court of common opinion is never constant, and ideas that were once widely accepted may become the ones targeted for censorship in the future.”
A major theme was that at Davidson, students seldom see models of rational discourse. They usually see disputes as “black or white” questions where one side is absolutely right and the other absolutely wrong. That needs to change.
Watkins concludes that, “The door is wide open for Davidson’s leaders to further strengthen freedom of expression on campus. It’s time they take that next step.”