The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a joint hearing on Tuesday to continue the conversation about freedom of speech on college campuses.
With the intention to better understand the climate on college campuses, propose solutions, and uphold the First Amendment, the committees invited experts who are “at the forefront of this debate.”
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“There has been a trend of intolerance against those voicing unpopular ideas or speech being disagreeable or offensive, by some students and faculty at some colleges and institutions,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. “This is occurring across the ideological spectrum and even at law schools.”
In opening statements by witnesses, there was widespread agreement on the increasing dangers accompanied with the suppression of speech that has alienated students, speakers, and faculty from being able to express opinions freely, without penalization by their respective schools.
Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director for the Center for Academic Freedom at the Alliance Defending Freedom, cited lawsuits that exemplify public universities violating the First Amendment with certain policies and restrictions.
Dividing cases into three categories, free speech zones, speech codes, and how schools allocate student activity fees, Langhofer alluded to lawsuits in which his organization has found success fighting for First Amendment rights.
Langhofer mentioned a Young Americans for Liberty lawsuit at Kellogg Community College, where three students were arrested for passing out copies of the Constitution outside of a free speech zone. YAL and ADF filed a lawsuit against Kellogg Community College and won, restoring First Amendment rights to students at the community college.
ADF also filed a lawsuit against Kennesaw State University on behalf of Young Americans for Freedom for “viewpoint discrimination” after the school charged the group an additional security fee for a guest speaker and denied student activity fee funding to help with the costs.
Campus infringements upon the First Amendment are not limited to students and students groups, however, as faculty are equally subject to suppression. Hearing witness Allison Stanger, a professor, was injured by an angry mob at Middlebury College when she moderated a question and answer session with libertarian author Charles Murray.
Another witness, biology professor Bret Weinstein, was forced to resign from his position at Evergreen State College after he opposed the school’s decision to ask white people to remove themselves from campus for the day.
Stanger and Weinstein discussed the role of faculty and administrators in enacting and upholding policies that infringe upon the First Amendment. Robert P. George of Princeton University noted that it is the faculty and university’s responsibility to focus on education, expressing concern on the growing trend of ideological echo chambers.
It is this growing trend that has led to multiple disinvitations of speakers across the country. Certain universities are reluctant to uphold invitations to speakers that go against the grain of popular thought on their campuses.
Shaun Harper, professor of Education and Business at the University of South Carolina, sharply responded to the trend of disinvitations on college campuses.
“Tuition-paying students have the right to protest people who bring hateful and poisonous messages to their communities,” Harper said.
While the committee brought to light the various ways in which the First Amendment is under attack on college campuses, one question, posed by Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., still remained unanswered.
“Are we achieving a diversity of thought and expression that is broad and inclusive enough to accept conflict?
