Thread by @donmoyn

Appreciate the sentiments calling for discourse here from the President of Wesleyan. But perhaps the most concrete signal that people in his position could take is to pledge not to host and normalize political figures on record of opposing US democracy.

https://twitter.com/mroth78/status/1347170939478401024

Like this guy, who led the efforts to strip electors in the House yesterday based on a lie that the election was fraudulent and who is now justifying the actions of the insurrectionists based on the same lie.

To be clear, this is likely a bad idea, since it is always risky to put criteria on what is acceptable speech. But I want to draw out the idea a little bit, if only to illustrate some points about campus speech

Across the country University Chancellors and Presidents are drafting emails to their campus about the "events at the Capitol" and what it means. At the same time, they face extreme pressure to not be seen as institutions with a liberal bias.

The emails will talk about the importance of protecting Democracy and the universities role. What if they said "our job is to prepare citizens in a democratic state and we will not tolerate assaults on democracy" - the old Popperian idea of not tolerating intolerance?

If you take the idea that universities should protect democracy seriously, it seems you would also refuse to air the views of people who used political power to disenfranchise voters, as all of these people did yesterday. nytimes.com/2021/01/05/opi…

But doesn't campus discussion give a chance to hold bad ideas accountable?
Mostly, no. Politicians avoid hostile venues, and campuses don't want to put someone them in one. They might face the odd aggressive question, but not a true debate with real back and forth.

What do campus events do? Mostly to convey prestige and legitimacy on speakers. To confirm that they are important, that their ideas are worth taking seriously to have earned this platform. To normalize. Which is what a lot of Republicans will be seeking today.

So universities could deny them that legitimacy. That is a tangible measure in support for democracy.
Let me add: this is not going to happen for many reasons: universities seek political support and perception of balance. Their commanding heights are conservative places.

But universities could at least stop chasing anti-democratic figures for events. Or demand that if they appear it involves substantive debate. They could also do more to be explicit in helping students understand what attacks on democracy look like today.

To reiterate, not sure I fully believe all of this. There are good reasons why I might be wrong and I welcome other suggestions. But platitudes about the value of discourse seem inadequate now. The people who egged on the insurrectionists have been flooding campuses in recent yrs