Today’s a day that ends in y, so, naturally, we’re facing yet another instance of campus insanity run amok. The latest example comes courtesy of Stanford University, where a student is in hot water for simply reading a controversial book.
The book in question was Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, a famed historical text that is actually assigned as required reading in
at least one
Stanford course. But a student who was photographed reading the book in an image later posted to Snapchat is now facing backlash through the university’s campus life programs.
CANCEL CULTURE HAS A STRANGLEHOLD ON THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
An email was sent out to Jewish Stanford students by two rabbis who work for Stanford’s Hillel House that
said
, “It can be upsetting to hear about incidents like this … Jewish people belong at Stanford, and deserve to be respected by our peers.”
The student was even formally reported over the photograph.
“A Protected Identity Harm report has been filed after the circulation of a Snapchat screenshot of a student reading ‘Mein Kampf,’ the autobiographical manifesto of Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler,” the Stanford Daily
reports
. “The Protected Identity Harm Reporting process is the University’s system to address incidents where a student or community member feels attacked due to their identity. The photo of the student reading the book was posted to another student’s Snapchat story Friday evening, according to a screenshot of the image obtained by The Daily.”
The residential community where the students live reportedly took “swift action,” although it is unclear what specifically was done. Thankfully, not everyone at Stanford is on board with this mob campaign.
“[This saga] reveals how fast the Stanford community will jump on the censorship train in the name of fighting oppression,” Jewish Stanford student Julia Steinberg
wrote
for the independent Stanford Review. “No matter the context, we should not chastise students for reading controversial books, and we certainly should not spread an institutional message that ‘feelings of safety and belonging’ should be prioritized above academic freedom to read controversial books or the personal freedom to make an off-kilter joke.”
Steinberg is entirely right. These students have done nothing wrong, and the backlash against them tramples over the most basic principles of free expression and academic freedom.
First, we should clear up a glaring misconception. The fact that a student was seen reading Mein Kampf does not mean they are in way supportive of Hitler or his ideas. Reading something is not an endorsement of it, and it’s hard to imagine an interpretation more deserving of the admittedly overused phrase “Orwellian.”
If an “academic” environment does not permit students to consider hateful but historically important ideas, then no real learning or education can occur. And engaging with those ideas is actually essential to aid in understanding their spread and ensuring atrocities don’t take place in the future.
Hence why the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has contacted Stanford to express its concern over the reported incident.
“Universities cannot institute Orwellian reporting systems that pressure students to confess, ‘take accountability,’ and promise to ‘change’ — all for reading the wrong book,” FIRE said in a
statement
. “Students who object to a peer’s reading material are not without recourse. They can ignore it, or employ their own expressive rights to offer personal critiques or even harsh criticism. But universities cannot wield their institutional authority to force compliance with any particular views or particular students’ sensitivities.”
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This disturbing saga should prompt serious introspection at Stanford and our other elite universities, where a culture of free speech is waning. It also ought to remind us all that “bias reporting” systems at colleges are ripe for abuse and a terrible idea in the first place.
Brad Polumbo (
@Brad_Polumbo
) is a libertarian-conservative journalist, the co-founder of
BASEDPolitics
, and a Washington Examiner contributor.
