 John,
In the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, significant attention -- and considerable outrage -- has been focused on responses from students, professors, and administrators on America's college campuses.
In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required to access), Mike writes that "It has been painful to watch students at elite colleges implicitly or explicitly endorse Hamas's attack. They aren't old enough to remember 9/11, and it's clear they never learned its lesson: Intentionally targeting civilians for slaughter is inexcusable no matter the political circumstances."
In response, university leaders should prioritize and promote diversity of thought and civil discourse -- and adopt the policy of the University of Chicago, which has long refused to issue statements on selective issues. Mike writes: "I understand why some donors are angry with college presidents who failed to condemn Hamas, but the best response isn't to demand that presidents issue more or stronger statements. We should demand that they stop making them altogether. Let students and faculty freely debate issues on their own, even when speech makes people uncomfortable."   
When the University of Chicago first announced its policy in 1967, it declared: “The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic." In 2023, that approach would be a step toward reversing campus trends toward ideological conformity and intolerance for divergent views.
Today's students are not only shielded from encountering challenging ideas. They are also frequently empowered to shout down those who express opposing views, rather than engage and debate them. "Over the past decade, this combination of campus conformity and intolerance has only gotten worse," Mike writes.
It's time for college presidents to act. They must ensure that students are prepared to engage in civil discourse on complex issues, and facilitate a diversity of viewpoints at their institutions. Above all, they should provide the forum for robust, open debate.
Read Mike's full op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamass-barbarity-heightens-the-crisis-in-higher-education-free-speech-anti-semitism-0eb27bd9
Thanks,
MikeBloomberg.com |
