Free speech is a cultural, not political, phenomenon

By David C. Rose

Published February 10, 2021 10:30am ET

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Free speech is a cultural, not political, phenomenon — FILE - In this March 2, 2017, file photo, Middlebury College students turn their backs to Charles Murray, unseen, during his lecture in Middlebury, Vt. Hundreds of students protested his lecture, forcing the college to move his talk to an undisclosed campus location from which it was live-streamed to the original venue. Since the beginning of 2016, more than two dozen campus speeches have been derailed amid controversy, according to the Foundation For Individual Rights In Education, a group that monitors free speech on campuses. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File) | Lisa Rathke

Harvard students have been petitioning to strip degrees from alumni who were involved with the Trump administration. When Pete Hegseth of Fox News brought up the alumni’s First Amendment right to free speech, one student noted that the First Amendment only provides protection against the government throttling speech.

That’s true. But free speech is about much more than the First Amendment. Free speech is ultimately a cultural phenomenon.

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