Six Years of Campus Debate Over Diversity of Thought

2013

September 9

Students at the City U. of New York protest the institution’s appointment of David Petraeus to a teaching position, calling the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency a “war criminal” and a “scumbag.” Some of them are arrested.

October 29

Student activists at Brown U. interrupt a speech by Ray Kelly, then the commissioner of New York City’s police department and a proponent of the city’s controversial “stop and frisk” policy. After 22 minutes, university officials cancel Kelly’s lecture.

2014

September 11

The U. of Illinois withdraws a job offer to Steven Salaita after the scholar’s series of inflammatory tweets about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

2015

January 6

A committee at the U. of Chicago approves a statement of “principles” about free expression. It states: “Debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed.” Other colleges have since endorsed the statement or adopted versions of it.

May 29

Laura Kipnis publishes in The Chronicle Review a detailed account of her “Title IX inquisition,” in which she faced formal complaints from two students at Northwestern U. over an earlier essay she wrote in the Review criticizing the state of sexual politics on campus. She laments the loss of “the liberty to publish ideas that might go against the grain or to take on risky subjects in the first place.”

September 14

Then-President Barack Obama comments on campus free speech. He says, “I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.”

September 20

Students at Wesleyan U. petition to defund the campus newspaper over its publication of an op-ed that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, and concerns that the paper isn’t providing a “safe space” for the voices of students of color.

November 5

Angry students of color confront a professor at Yale U. over an email written by his wife, a university instructor, in which she suggests that students are no longer allowed to be “a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive.” The encounter is caught on video.

November 9

As the U. of Missouri faces protests over racism, a professor is criticized for forcefully trying to keep a journalist away from student activists. A debate ensues over students’ demands for “safe spaces,” which critics argue are simply designed for them to take shelter from opposing views.

2016

August 24

The U. of Chicago’s dean of students writes a letter to incoming freshmen proclaiming that the university does “not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’” nor does it “condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”

October 14

Presidential candidate Donald Trump excoriates what he describes as “political correctness” that “has transformed our institutions of higher education from ones that fostered spirited debate to a place of extreme censorship, where students are silenced for the smallest things.”

December 6

Richard Spencer, the white supremacist, speaks at Texas A&M U. as part of his “Danger Tour” of events on college campuses. University officials say they can’t keep him away because Texas A&M is a public institution, but they organize a competing, alternative event called “Aggies United” to express opposition to Spencer.

2017

January 30

The right-leaning Goldwater Institute publishes a model bill designed to fight the perceived suppression of controversial ideas on campus. As of September 2019, at least 17 states have passed free-speech laws, many of which contain some elements of the model legislation.

February 1

A planned speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing firebrand, prompts 1,500 protesters to converge on the U. of California at Berkeley. The demonstration turns violent, and Berkeley officials cancel Yiannopoulos’s speech. A return visit in September quickly fizzles.

February 2

President Trump learns about the violence at Berkeley and tweets: “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”

March 2

Charles Murray, a controversial social scientist, is shouted down by Middlebury College students. The protesters also injure a Middlebury professor walking with Murray. The college cancels the event.

April 26

Student groups at Berkeley withdraw their support of an event featuring Ann Coulter, the conservative commentator. They say university officials failed to provide “assurances for protections from foreseeable violence from unrestrained campus agitators.” Coulter then cancels her talk.

August 11

White supremacists descend on the U. of Virginia. A day later, they plan a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. A counterprotester, Heather Heyer, is killed and many others are injured when a vehicle driven by one of the white supremacists plows into a crowd.

August 25

A liberal graduate student makes rude gestures and curses at a conservative undergraduate at the U. of Nebraska at Lincoln who is promoting the campus chapter of the right-leaning group Turning Point USA. The clash is caught on video and prompts a backlash.

September 26

Jeff Sessions, then the U.S. attorney general, signals that the Justice Department will start weighing in on some campus free-speech disputes. He says, “Protesters are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform with their views.”

2018

March 22

President Trump says the “vast majority” of people on campuses “want free speech.” He says the idea that there’s a campus free-speech crisis is “highly overblown.”

July 24

Sessions once again makes comments about campus free speech. He accuses colleges of creating “a generation of sanctimonious, sensitive, supercilious snowflakes.”

September 17

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos criticizes campus administrators for, as she sees it, silencing students’ unpopular views. “This patronizing practice assumes students are incapable of grappling with, learning from, or responding to ideas with which they disagree,” she says.

November 28

The president of the U. of Wisconsin system reprimands the chancellor of the La Crosse campus for bringing a porn star to campus. The chancellor says he thought the campus free-speech policy protected his right to invite her.

2019

March 20

South Dakota’s governor signs an “intellectual diversity” bill into law. It’s designed to hold colleges more accountable for perceived bias against right-leaning viewpoints.

March 21

President Trump signs an executive order that he says will hold colleges accountable for ensuring free speech. Colleges must, the order says, “avoid creating environments that stifle competing perspectives, thereby potentially impeding beneficial research and undermining learning.”

April 8

Texas State U.’s student government votes to ban the campus chapter of Turning Point USA, citing its “consistent history of creating hostile work and learning environments through a myriad of intimidation tactics aimed against students and faculty.” University officials clarify that the student government can’t actually ban the group.

July 17

President Trump holds a campaign rally on the campus of East Carolina U., where attendees chant “send her back!” about a Democratic congresswoman of color. Students are upset about his appearance. University officials say the First Amendment required them to allow Trump’s campaign to rent the venue.

August 19

The Pew Research Center releases an analysis showing that fewer than half of Republicans — 44 percent — believe that colleges are open to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints. Three-quarters of Republicans believe that colleges are too concerned with protecting students from views they might find offensive.

Sarah Brown writes about a range of higher-education topics, including sexual assault, race on campus, and Greek life. Follow her on Twitter @Brown_e_Points, or email her at sarah.brown@chronicle.com.