Arizona State University must be rolling in the glory of this wisdom, imparted by two ASU profs who’ve started a discussion about why Free Speech on Campus is not just overrated but dangerous. My First thought? Their sort of speech sounds dangerous, but they got to say it.
The premise is this.
Our contention is that calls for greater freedom of speech on campuses, however well-intentioned, risk undermining colleges’ central purpose, namely, the production of expert knowledge and understanding, in the sense of disciplinarily warranted opinion.
These must be really smart people who, presumably, questioned nothing as they climbed the educational ladder of success, making the best means for passing accumulated groupthink to future generations. Unfortunately, someone has to decide. Which groupthink? There are thousands of campuses with many more thousands of experts. Not all of them agree on much of everything, and some don’t agree on anything, let alone whose expertise will define “expert knowledge.”
The ASU authors try to get around this trip wire by being who they are: Pompous, navel-gazing, self-absorbed pr!cks.
Expertise requires freedom of speech,…
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