Students—with the encouragement of some faculty members—on Thursday shouted down Charles Murray, a political scientist who was invited by the American Enterprise Institute Club to speak on his 2012 book, Coming Apart. After the lecture, Murray and Allison Stanger, a professor at the college and moderator of the event, were greeted by a violent mob of protesters. Somebody pulled Stanger’s hair and injured her neck, leaving her in a brace.
In light of these events, over two dozen professors (and counting) from a range of subject areas released 15 principles on Monday reaffirming a commitment to civil, reasoned discourse and the right to challenge opinions, among other points.
Read their statement below:
Genuine higher learning is possible only where free, reasoned, and civil speech and discussion are respected. Only through the contest of clashing viewpoints do we have any hope of replacing mere opinion with knowledge. The incivility and coarseness that characterize so much of American politics and culture cannot justify a response of incivility and coarseness on the college campus. The impossibility of attaining a perfectly egalitarian sphere of free discourse can never justify efforts to silence speech and debate. Exposure to controversial points of view does not constitute violence. Students have the right to challenge and to protest non-disruptively the views of their professors and guest speakers. A protest that prevents campus speakers from communicating with their audience is a coercive act. No group of professors or students has the right to act as final arbiter of the opinions that students may entertain. No group of professors or students has the right to determine for the entire community that a question is closed for discussion. The purpose of college is not to make faculty or students comfortable in their opinions and prejudices. The purpose of education is not the promotion of any particular political or social agenda. The primary purpose of higher education is the cultivation of the mind, thus allowing for intelligence to do the hard work of assimilating and sorting information and drawing rational conclusions. A good education produces modesty with respect to our own intellectual powers and opinions as well as openness to considering contrary views. All our students possess the strength, in head and in heart, to consider and evaluate challenging opinions from every quarter. We are steadfast in our purpose to provide all current and future students an education on this model, and we encourage our colleagues at colleges across the country to do the same.
See the undersigned here.
