BY ELIZABETH J. MEYER

The topic of free speech on college campuses has been an important one and one that continues to be debated particularly in the wake of Milo Yiannopolis’s speaking tour last year and the 2016 presidential election. With groups like Turning Point USA pouring significant resources into sponsoring conservative speakers like Ann Coulter to visit college campuses and the “Professor Watchlist”, what can faculty do when faced with speech acts in their classrooms that are disruptive and harmful to the learning environment?

In the spring semester of 2017, I was teaching a graduate level course on “Gender Issues in Education.” Since my research has included studying bullying and harassment and school climate issues, I work very intentionally the first day of class to set up an inclusive and welcoming classroom environment that includes multiple ways for students to participate and interact. I present an “inclusive welcome” and facilitate activities that set the stage for thoughtful engagement with diverse individuals on complex ideas. One student-athlete had to miss the first class session due to previously scheduled surgery, and he arrived at the next class session wearing a hat that said, “Make CU Great Again.” These hats were produced by our athletics department and some players from the CU Football team were wearing them. Notably, I only observed White males wearing these hats even though the team has many players of color. I was stumped about how to handle this situation since the hat so clearly built on the rhetoric of the Trump campaign (even using the same font) and was implicitly endorsed by the powerful athletics unit on our campus. Should I have said something?

This is one of the questions I grappled with all semester as I taught a course grounded in feminist and queer theory and that examined theories and research about equity and justice in education during the first 5 months of Trump’s presidential term. This is one of the issues that led me to examine the conflicts and controversies surrounding free speech in classrooms since the 2016 presidential campaign and election. College campuses have long been the site of such contested terrain and I am a strong advocate for the free exchange of ideas and the importance of deliberation in a democratic society. However, I also know the research and the impacts of a toxic learning environment on students—particularly those who embody targeted and marginalized identities in our White supremacist, capitalist, hetero-patriarchal society. The students in this class were the most diverse I had ever taught on so many levels: language, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age—and most of the students were struggling with the hostile environment generated by the rhetoric of the Trump campaign and administration. How do I keep my classroom a space where all students feel safe to engage in difficult ideas and take intellectual and emotional risks if there are students who are actively broadcasting messages that remind students that their existence in this country is at risk? I am thinking particularly of Mexican-American students, students from immigrant families, and LGBTQ students.

The AAUP and AFT distributed a helpful FAQ, “Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty in the Wake of the 2016 Election,” which quotes a 1994 AAUP official statement that explained: “On a campus that is free and open, no idea can be banned or forbidden. No viewpoint or message may be deemed so hateful or disturbing that it may not be expressed.” However, the FAQ goes on to quote another portion of that statement that elaborates: “Members of the faculty have a major role in dealing with incivility, intolerance, offensive speech, and harassing behavior. They must condemn intolerance, and ensure that their actions set examples for understanding, making clear to their students that civility and tolerance are hallmarks of educated men and women.” How do we walk this line? Is someone’s right to express intolerance supersede another student’s right to access an education without core aspects of their identity being attacked? If you have grappled with these questions, I encourage you to help me by completing an online survey and possibly participating in a follow-up interview. My hope is to not only answer this question from a legal framework, but also keeping key pedagogical and ethical issues about supporting our students and serving the greater good of a healthy democracy at the forefront.

My goal as an educator is to help others see the world in new ways and reduce barriers to participation and access. I hope you will help me find more nuanced and informed ways that we can all consider these complicated questions. For more information on the survey please visit: www.elizabethjmeyer.com/research.

Guest blogger Elizabeth J. Meyer is the Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the School of Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder.