2008 Woodie Awards
SectionsLetter: Professor praises Bear protesters
Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
I just wanted to offer Kudos to those students who braved potential harassment and disciplinary action, in order to protest on behalf of freedom of speech, this past Friday.
The original F-word "incident" arose in what was clearly a political context: specifically, an anarchist song, which was part of a larger rally. The First Amendment was designed to protect exactly that sort of speech.
We must remember that no one needs constitutional protections for noncontroversial or inoffensive speech. What one needs protection for is precisely the sort of speech that is likely to be unpopular and to invite retaliation from those who temporarily occupy positions of authority.
I am quite pleased to see that our students understand this and are willing to take some risks in order to affirm it.
Daniel A. Kaufman
associate professor
philosophy dept.
The original F-word "incident" arose in what was clearly a political context: specifically, an anarchist song, which was part of a larger rally. The First Amendment was designed to protect exactly that sort of speech.
We must remember that no one needs constitutional protections for noncontroversial or inoffensive speech. What one needs protection for is precisely the sort of speech that is likely to be unpopular and to invite retaliation from those who temporarily occupy positions of authority.
I am quite pleased to see that our students understand this and are willing to take some risks in order to affirm it.
Daniel A. Kaufman
associate professor
philosophy dept.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Rob Lehr
posted 10/30/07 @ 4:16 AM CST
Thank you so much for this letter. You have no idea how many people just did not get what we were trying to do. On the Newleader forums, countless people were extremely negative. (Continued…)
Josh Morrison
posted 10/30/07 @ 6:01 AM CST
Dr. Kaufman:
I'm very happy to see that you have stood with students on this issue. From our time together in class these many years ago, I can tell that your steadfast support for free speech, even if it's speech that you may not agree with, is still strong. (Continued…)
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