Colleges must take steps to foster debate and dialogue
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"The road to tyranny and genocide lies in refusing to countenance a challenge
to one's definition of justice and pursuit of it. That is precisely the culture
universities have been coddling if not cultivating, and they are now reaping
what they have sown."
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-- Mike Bloomberg
The Wall Street Journal
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John,
In the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians,
significant attention -- and considerable outrage -- has been focused on
responses from students, professors, and administrators on America's college
campuses.
In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required
to access)
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, Mike writes that "It has been painful to watch students at elite colleges
implicitly or explicitly endorse Hamas's attack. They aren't old enough to
remember 9/11, and it's clear they never learned its lesson: Intentionally
targeting civilians for slaughter is inexcusable no matter the political
circumstances."
In response, university leaders should prioritize and promote diversity of
thought and civil discourse -- and adopt the policy of the University of
Chicago, which has long refused to issue statements on selective issues. Mike
writes: "I understand why some donors are angry with college presidents who
failed to condemn Hamas, but the best response isn't to demand that presidents
issue more or stronger statements. We should demand that they stop making them
altogether. Let students and faculty freely debate issues on their own, even
when speech makes people uncomfortable."
READ MIKE'S WSJ OP-ED
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When the University of Chicago first announced its policy in 1967, it
declared: “The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself
the critic." In 2023, that approach would be a step toward reversing campus
trends toward ideological conformity and intolerance for divergent views.
Today's students are not only shielded from encountering challenging ideas.
They are also frequently empowered to shout down those who express opposing
views, rather than engage and debate them. "Over the past decade, this
combination of campus conformity and intolerance has only gotten worse," Mike
writes.
It's time for college presidents to act. They must ensure that students are
prepared to engage in civil discourse on complex issues, and facilitate a
diversity of viewpoints at their institutions. Above all, they should provide
the forum for robust, open debate.
Read Mike's full op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
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Thanks,
MikeBloomberg.com
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Mike Bloomberg
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