I am adding my own comment. It's a quote from David French's NYT article, "What University Presidents Got Right and Wrong About Antisemitic Speech." If what he offers was done not just in the universities but in comparable ways in the media and other institutions, my concern would be lessened -- "The best, clearest plan for reform I’ve seen comes from Harvard’s own Steven Pinker, a psychologist. He writes that campuses should enact “clear and coherent” free speech policies. They should adopt a posture of “institutional neutrality” on public controversy. (“Universities are forums, not protagonists.”) They should end “heckler’s vetoes, building takeovers, classroom invasions, intimidations, blockades, assaults.” But reform can’t be confined to policies. It also has to apply to cultures. As Pinker notes, that means disempowering a diversity, equity and inclusion apparatus that is itself all too often an engine of censorship and extreme political bias. Most importantly, universities need to take affirmative steps to embrace greater viewpoint diversity. Ideological monocultures breed groupthink, intolerance and oppression." This could only happen if the universities were willing to call on police power and the media (including the NYT) were willing to stand up to a large portion of their reporters.
I am adding my own comment. It's a quote from David French's NYT article, "What University Presidents Got Right and Wrong About Antisemitic Speech." If what he offers was done not just in the universities but in comparable ways in the media and other institutions, my concern would be lessened -- "The best, clearest plan for reform I’ve seen comes from Harvard’s own Steven Pinker, a psychologist. He writes that campuses should enact “clear and coherent” free speech policies. They should adopt a posture of “institutional neutrality” on public controversy. (“Universities are forums, not protagonists.”) They should end “heckler’s vetoes, building takeovers, classroom invasions, intimidations, blockades, assaults.” But reform can’t be confined to policies. It also has to apply to cultures. As Pinker notes, that means disempowering a diversity, equity and inclusion apparatus that is itself all too often an engine of censorship and extreme political bias. Most importantly, universities need to take affirmative steps to embrace greater viewpoint diversity. Ideological monocultures breed groupthink, intolerance and oppression." This could only happen if the universities were willing to call on police power and the media (including the NYT) were willing to stand up to a large portion of their reporters.