Free Speech on Campus

Abstract

Issues of free speech on campus are nothing new. They have been around as long as there have been colleges and universities. In fact, the U.C. Berkeley has played a key role with regard to the development of free speech principles on campus. It was the free speech movement there, in the mid-1960s, that established the ability of students to use campuses as the place for expressing views not just with regard what is going on in the university, but with regard to political issues as well. And yet, things seem different in some ways from what was going on in the free speech movement in the 1960s. Now, it is often outside speakers who want to use the campus as their platform: Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro. It is often outside groups, like Antifa, that want to disrupt the speech. There are other differences as well. The attitude of students with regard to free speech seems different now than it was in the 1960s.