Robert M. O’Neil, a former president of the University of Virginia, has an interesting and often wry analysis of several recent brouhahas about speakers on campuses and academic freedom.
He observes: “Providing … a forum for abhorrent views is far likelier than suppressing them is to expose the fallacies of those views.” And, “One is almost tempted to suggest that the academy is readier to defend truly hateful views than those that are merely insensitive or gender- and race-hostile.” (The Chronicle of Higher Education)