In the world of higher education, perhaps no issue has received more attention in recent years than that of free speech. In a new book, Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech , Princeton politics professor Keith E. Whittington presents a cogent and fiercely argued defense of free speech on university campuses. While the topic of free speech in the United States is often associated with First Amendment law, Whittington makes clear from the beginning that he is not making a primarily legal argument. Instead, he argues that freedom of speech is fundamental to the mission of a modern university, which is to “produce and disseminate knowledge.” Toward the end of the second chapter (which contains an excellent capsule history of the tradition of free speech) he writes, “If universities seek to produce and disseminate knowledge, rather than dogma, then they must foster an environment in which no beliefs are sacred, no ideas are safe from scrutiny, no opinions are immune fr...
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