Matt Johnson

*This article was originally published in The Topeka Capital-Journal, June 11, 2016. 

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) published its annual list of the “10 worst colleges for free speech” in February. As always, it was a distressing reminder that many students and administrators regard the First Amendment as a nuisance and a liability instead of the guarantor of all that matters at their universities.

Here are two of the most egregious examples: 1) At the University of California, San Diego, the student council defunded every student publication to punish one satirical magazine (The Koala) for running a mordant article about “safe spaces” on campus. 2) A professor at Northwestern University, Laura Kipnis, was subjected to a grueling 70-day Title IX investigation for an article she published (which was about Title IX) in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Episodes like these are becoming more common at our universities, and they’re forcing professors and students to assess every conceivable consequence of what they say or write. This may sound healthy, but it’s easy for self-editing to dissolve into self-censorship.

Read the full article in The Topeka Capital-Journal.