Free Speech and Liberal Education: A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance

The status of free speech and academic freedom in the nation’s colleges and universities has become an explosive issue. Reports of disruptions, disinvitations of speakers, and a host of new speech-inhibiting policies instituted by campus bureaucracies are now commonplace. Critics claim that these actions and measures have smothered the open and honest discourse, inside and outside the classroom, that is so necessary for a meaningful and vibrant education. Others consider the fears of crisis to be overblown, discerning the harms as less extensive in the vast domain of higher education than critics acknowledge.Drawing on his extensive research, teaching, and practical experience as a free speech and academic freedom leader at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and nationwide, Donald A. Downs portrays the university as an “intellectual polis” where free and honest academic discourse should pervade. His unique approach addresses the experiential, empirical, strategic, and philosophical dimensions at stake.Free Speech and Liberal Education: A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance dissects the nature, extent, and causes of speech suppression. It emphasizes the need for intellectual diversity and shows how repression often coexists with counterforces, which need to be energized and mobilized in what Downs portrays as the “embattled” status of academic free speech. The text discusses the harms that the new policies and actions pose to liberal education, as well as the broader structural and societal threats to academic freedom. It also shows how to mobilize to protect campus freedom using resources inside and outside the classroom and, most importantly, why robust free speech and academic freedom are so important to both liberal education and the prospects of liberal democracy. Read more