Purdue University has become a bastion of free speech, and a shining example of what it means to have that right on a college campus.
On Friday, the board of trustees passed a measure endorsing the “Chicago principals.”
According to the Huffington Post, the Chicago principals were created and approved at the University of Chicago.
These principles condemn the suppression of views no matter how “offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed” they might be or seem to be, the Huffington Post reported.
Princeton University has adopted these principles as well, but Purdue is the first public university to take this step.
“It is for the individual members of the University community, not for the University as an institution, to make those judgments for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose,” the new Purdue policy states.
Purdue President Mitch Daniels is very enthusiastic that the Chicago principals have the potential to spread to other campuses around the country.
“We looked at it, our trustees looked at it.We said, you know, this says exactly what needs to be said. We’re going to protect all kinds of speech, including the kind we think is ridiculous and completely wrong, and we’re going to insist everybody else respect — at least on our campus — people’s right to be heard,” Daniels said.
This measure will also prevent student activists from trying to block guest speakers with whom they disagree, such as the way Brandeis University disinvited Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
