Free speech in America is dying because many millennials prioritize people’s feelings above the First Amendment. Making matters worse, scholars charged with teaching college students about the rights embedded in the U.S. Constitution are instead happy to let young people interpret it how they see fit.
That is according to a pair of panels consisting of college grads and campus administrators who addressed The Atlantic Education Summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
One grad talked a lot about “productive speech” being the only speech that should be free, reports The College Fix’s Greg Piper, who attended the event. Another student suggested free speech should not “marginalize another group.”
Administrators, meanwhile, acknowledge that speech injures people, one vice chancellor for academic affairs said, adding: “You’re actually responding and hurting people.” The notion that campuses may “overcorrect” as students become more sensitive – and that effectively marginalizes conservative voices – was dismissed as one challenge among many.