Truth, ideas, and intellectual inquiry used to be synonymous with American universities. After all, Yale’s motto is “lux et veritas,” which means “light and truth.” Similarly, Harvard’s motto is “Veritas,” or simply “truth.”
But universities, dominated by leftist professors and even more radical college administrators, are increasingly suppressing any nonconforming views. This thinking is wrongheaded and ignores the purpose of both the university and the First Amendment.
This is especially important to remember during Free Speech Week, which begins today and celebrates our First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Both liberties are foundational to our republic because they ensure that we can have open and honest discussions on important social and political issues that affect each and every one of us.
Many universities are trying to stifle that discussion.
For example, the Ohio-based public university Shawnee State punished professor Nicholas Meriwether for declining to refer to a male student as a woman. The transgender student was upset after being referred to as “sir” instead of “ma’am” by the professor. Yet addressing the student that way would violate Meriwether’s sincerely-held Christian convictions.
The student filed a complaint with the university, and the school launched a formal investigation. Meriwether offered to refer to the student only by first or last name but university officials rejected this and any other compromise that would allow Meriwether to speak according to his conscience and sincerely-held religious beliefs.
Administrators formally charged the professor, saying that “he effectively created a hostile environment” for the student. The university then placed a written warning in Meriwether’s personnel file and threatened “further corrective actions” unless he agreed to articulate the university’s preferred ideological message.
Similarly, the University of Louisville demoted and fired its longtime division chief of child psychiatry and psychology for criticizing the push for radical, life-altering treatments for children with gender dysphoria. In the fall of 2017, Dr. Allan Josephson participated in a panel at the Heritage Foundation discussing treatment approaches for youth experiencing gender dysphoria. His remarks angered a few of his colleagues, who demanded that the university punish him.
Weeks later, the university demoted Josephson to a junior faculty member. In 2019, the university announced that it would not renew his contract, a highly unusual decision that was effectively a way of firing him.
This kind of intolerance is suffocating the free exchange of ideas on college campuses across the country.
Many professors are afraid to express views that go against the oppressive, politically correct culture — a culture that directly stifles student speech as well. A recent survey found that 68% of students say their the atmosphere on campus leaves people too intimidated to share unpopular views. This is up from 54% only three years ago.
We must work to restore free speech on our campuses to make them once more free marketplaces of ideas. Each speech policy overturned, every student group vindicated, and every professor defended is a victory for truth and justice. Each victory drains the poison of political correctness and ensures that universities represent and promote diverse viewpoints and ideologies — the hallmark of true tolerance. But securing that tolerance requires courage: the courage to stand up against an increasingly intolerant Left and speak the truth that fewer and fewer students and administrators want to hear.
Michael Ross is legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom (@AllianceDefends).
