Freedom of Speech

I take an interest in issues relating to academic freedom and freedom of speech in the academic community, and am currently serving as chair of the Academic Freedom Committee at our University.

"Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're really in favor of free speech, then you're in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you're not in favor of free speech." - Noam Chomsky

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

- George Orwell

Not everyone likes free speech. In fact it is quite unpopular in certain sections of the academic community. On this campus, I believe that CEETL (the Center for Equity and Excellence etc.), BIET (the Bias Incident Education Team), and the Office of Equity Programs and Compliance consider freedom of speech to be problematic, and would love to restrict it in various ways.

At private institutions you can be fired - and many have been fired - for saying things that some people don't want to hear. At public institutions like SFSU the First Amendment applies in theory, according to various court decisions. But in practice there exist mechanisms, such as Bias Response Teams and the DHR component of Title IX offices, which allow college administrators to impose penalties on speech as they see fit, and to discourage expression of words and opinions which they don't like. Ironically, some of these administrators will fervently declare their allegiance to free speech, while at the same time engaging in its suppression.

This is the organization that has taken on the role that the ACLU has long since abandoned. You can find them at this link .