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Cheers to President Skorton
Far too often, ACTA comes into contact with university leaders who fail to defend the free exchange of ideas -- for example, the board of the University of Delaware, which declined to put a stop to a significant threat to intellectual pluralism, and the administration at Brandeis University, which has harshly sanctioned a professor for making "controversial" comments in the classroom. Today, we want to laud one who has come to the fore for doing the opposite: David Skorton, president of Cornell University. Yesterday, Skorton wrote a column calling for the protection of the free-speech rights of a student newspaper presently under fire. While exercising his own right to disagree with the publication, the Cornell Review, he cautioned the numerous members of the Cornell community who have demanded punishment for the Review that "The antidote to offensive speech, however, is more speech, not less speech." Well said.
Sorry to say, but university heads who take a stand for intellectual pluralism are much too rare -- and they are exactly the kind of leaders for whom trustees should be looking. President Skorton deserves credit for taking this brave stance, and we need more like him.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on September 30, 2008 at September 30, 2008 05:17 PM
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Comments
I'm not sure he actually says the free-speech rights of the newspaper are under attack.
He describes "a Student Assembly resolution criticizing the Review for causing 'alienation and intimidation'" as an exercise of the complaining students' free speech, not as a regulation promulgated by Cornell in its role as a state institution, by the city of Ithaca, or by New York State.
As I understand it, the Review isn't even funded by student activity funds, which means there is nothing for the university to cut off, if it wanted to.
The right to free speech is a right against the government, in any form. Although President Skorton promotes a civil marketplace of ideas, he does not precisely stand up for free speech rights, because he does not have to: there are no free speech rights at stake. It's just a controversy. The only thing at stake, and the only weapon either side has available, is public opinion.
Posted by: cayuga swatters at October 1, 2008 04:23 PM