Campus free speech showdowns have recently received an overwhelming amount of media exposure. This is not because First Amendment conflicts have not occurred in other venues, but rather because the media understands that the college campus is the ultimate battleground of ideas, and free speech is the foundation of any ideological battle.
The Free Speech Movement first took root on campuses like UC Berkeley in the 1960s, driven by young people who were battling their campus administrators. Decades later, free speech on campus is yet again threatened by campus administrators who are passively squelching the free speech rights of conservatives. It’s easy to blame the so-called “antifa” students and other protestors who have forced the cancellation of conservative speakers like Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter, but the buck has to stop somewhere. College presidents have the resources to protect free speech — when they want to protect it.
The problem is they don’t.
When conservative Milo Yiannopoulos came to speak at Cal Poly on January 31, its president, Jeffrey Armstrong, verbally affirmed his disapproval of the speaker, yet he also made no bones about the campus’s responsibility to protect free speech, and even brought in more than 100 officers from seven law enforcement agencies (including a SWAT team) to back up his words.
The event happened without a hitch.
Less than 48 hours later, when Yiannopoulos came to UC Berkeley, the university’s leadership failed to protect its own students by permitting violent students to start fires, smash windows and assault peers and police officers alike. Less than three months later, Berkeley’s leadership again failed to provide the security necessary for conservative firebrand Ann Coulter to speak on campus. Conservative columnist and author Ben Shapiro was likewise forced to cancel his appearance at DePaul University.
While a small minority of college officials (like Armstrong) stand up for free speech, most cannot be trusted to do what’s right, which is why student leaders are so critical to the survival of the Free Speech Movement. They are the ones hosting events like those mentioned above and bringing a diversity of thought to the campus experience.
Over time, the baby boomer generation crushed a movement that they themselves started, and millennials are its only hope for a comeback.
Young America’s Foundation is currently leading the charge by educating and activating students so that they can take the fight back to their campuses. YAF teaches students how to navigate through the red tape and ensure that their event is both successful and secure. The impact of their speaking events has captivated major mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times, which highlighted YAF’s work in a May 21 article entitled “The Conservative Force Behind Speeches Roiling College Campuses.”
Conservative students are constantly dealing with protestors who truly believe they have the right to close down speaking events if they find the speaker’s ideas offensive, and university officials who willingly comply. These student leaders are outnumbered and sometimes outmaneuvered, but their message is often magnified by the media attention they receive when they face opposition. Their fight serves to remind all Americans of the liberal intolerance on college campuses, but also of the fragility of free speech in places that lack any sort of real tolerance. If free speech dies on college campuses, where will it die next? It has already died in Hollywood, and is practically on life support in other places.
America is counting on millennials to fight for this basic right and carry the torch that older generations have extinguished.
