I know that my article this morning carries a headline beginning “Ugly, Noisy, Sometimes Offensive,” but please read on; I assure you the column is not about me, it’s about the Free Expression Tunnel at NC State and the latest “hate speech” controversy at UNC. The gist:
One wishes earnestly but with little reason to hope that somewhere at N.C. State or within the UNC system could be found an educator who could use the incident as a teachable moment about the importance of free speech and the free society?s ability and responsibility to use more speech rather than tyranny to overpower noxious speech. They all apparently want to use the incident to justify stifling speech on all UNC campuses. …
Rather than wasting time hammering out speech policies that are bound to be unconstitutional and are demonstrably unnecessary anyway (some scribbles at one university on one day on a “free expression” wall means it’s high time to rewrite the speech codes throughout the whole system?), it would be much wiser to drop the issue entirely and let N.C. State students return to their time-tested, well-practiced way of dealing with free expression that’s offensive: ignore it, drown it out, or just clown it on the side. If UNC wants to export a lesson from the Free Expression Tunnel, what better lesson could they find? Imagine: UNC students systemwide able to deal with offensive ideas with aplomb rather than immediately being reduced to a mewling, quivering heap.
