One thought on “Why Arizona HB 2238 Is the Wrong Way to Promote Free Speech on Campus

  1. The writer makes a sound argument. I would add a few factors for consideration, on an issue I’m involved with as an alum and college parent.

    One, there has been an unbalanced ideological, political and policy environment on most college campuses (save for example Hillsdale College, or Caltech, whose only student protest in its nearly 80 year history was over the cancellation of Star Trek in 1968), even (or especially) in professional schools of law, management and so-called public policy. The heavy overweight of far Left (if I may) perspectives, may or not be ones that can be addressed by administrative or government policy, but such imbalance surely has an impact on how our young adults grow and mature intellectually. A group of new UChicago Ph.Ds and J.D.s I met with this year was an unsettling experience in the degree to which they merely mimicked or mirrored the speech and thought patterns of very trivial ideology from the academy (readers can view my monograph on law school reform and cognitive fidelity, in the UC Knowledge archives).

    Two, the academy and its administration (I say “its” because that is where the vast majority of administration come from–and go back to) has to take most of the blame in this contention raised by the author, as they have overwhelmed the campus environment with very poorly thought-out positions, and combined with previous White House administration, used (and use) the college campus for ideological dissemination, political recruitment, and even curriculum design (e.g. area studies).

    Three, this may all otherwise be a tempest in a teapot, in some dimensions, as free speech is free, precisely because it does not conform to codified law, but rather to natural law. The only legal policy consideration is actually one sustained by college administration because of 1. concerns over tort law liability, and triggering Title VI actions; and 2. managing expectations and preferences of corporate, federal and individual donors: free speech is largely about free cash flow.

    Readers may otherwise appreciate my recent Opinion on campus speech codes (the “Chicago Principles”) written for the students, faculty and parents of the University of Chicago (below by link).

    May I close by stating that ultimately, government–and universities–should get out of the speech business, and simply get out of the way (as the writer rightly calls it, of “micromanagement”). That judgment, and its complications, I raised in the Wall Street Journal, below, additionally. Thank you and Regards.

    https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/2/7/chicago-principles-dissent/

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-government-and-free-speech-on-campus-1510000926

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