Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech

(Paperback, 2nd edition)

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Why colleges and universities live or die by free speech Free speech is under attack at colleges and universities today, as critics on and off campus challenge the value of freewheeling debate. In Speak Freely, Keith Whittington argues that universities must protect and encourage vigorous free speech because it goes to the heart of their mission to foster freedom of thought, ideological diversity, and tolerance. Examining hot-button issues such as trigger warnings, safe spaces, hate speech, disruptive protests, speaker disinvitations, and the use of social media by faculty, Speak Freely describes the dangers of empowering campus censors to limit speech and enforce orthodoxy. It explains why universities must make space for voices from both the Left and Right. And it points out how better understanding why the university lives or dies by free speech can help guide students, faculty, administrators, and alumni when faced with unpopular, hateful, or dangerous speech. Timely and vitally important, Speak Freely shows why universities can succeed only by fostering more free speech, more free thought-and a greater tolerance for both.

Reviews

[A] sophisticated and coolheaded defense of free speech.Peter Berkowitz, Real Clear Politics
Involve[s] readers in the pleasures of confronting a difficult problem, treating the dangerous views of determined adversaries with an open mind and proceeding with greater confidence as a result.Jonathan Marks, Wall Street Journal
Cogent and compelling. . . . Speak Freely supplies clarity and good sense to a subject that has been receiving a lot more heat than light.Glenn C. Altschuler, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The best of the recent books on free speech and higher education. James Stoner, Law and Liberty
A timely defense of intellectual debate and critical thinking. . . . In the current divisive political climate, Whittington shows why safeguarding the civil exchange of diverse ideas is an urgent need.Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University.