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More progressive quenching of speech...
https://www.thefire.org/subject-facs...sit-aftermath/
Wellesley Statement from CERE faculty re: Laura Kipnis Freedom Project visit and aftermath
Over the past few years, several guest speakers with controversial and objectionable beliefs have
presented their ideas at Wellesley. We, the faculty in CERE, defend free speech and believe it is
essential to a liberal arts education. However, as historian W. Jelani Cobb notes, “The freedom to
offend the powerful is not equivalent to the freedom to bully the relatively disempowered. The
enlightenment principles that undergird free speech also prescribed that the natural limits of
one’s liberty lie at the precise point at which it begins to impose upon the liberty of another.”
There is no doubt that the speakers in question impose on the liberty of students, staff, and
faculty at Wellesley. We are especially concerned with the impact of speakers’ presentations on
Wellesley students, who often feel the injury most acutely and invest time and energy in
rebutting the speakers’ arguments. Students object in order to affirm their humanity. This work is
not optional; students feel they would be unable to carry out their responsibilities as students
without standing up for themselves.
Over the past few years, several guest speakers with controversial and objectionable beliefs have
presented their ideas at Wellesley. We, the faculty in CERE, defend free speech and believe it is
essential to a liberal arts education. However, as historian W. Jelani Cobb notes, “The freedom to
offend the powerful is not equivalent to the freedom to bully the relatively disempowered. The
enlightenment principles that undergird free speech also prescribed that the natural limits of
one’s liberty lie at the precise point at which it begins to impose upon the liberty of another.”
There is no doubt that the speakers in question impose on the liberty of students, staff, and
faculty at Wellesley. We are especially concerned with the impact of speakers’ presentations on
Wellesley students, who often feel the injury most acutely and invest time and energy in
rebutting the speakers’ arguments. Students object in order to affirm their humanity. This work is
not optional; students feel they would be unable to carry out their responsibilities as students
without standing up for themselves.
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