Free Speech and Liberal Education: A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance

by Donald Alexander Downs

The status of free speech and academic freedom in the nation’s colleges and universities has become an explosive issue. Reports of disruptions, disinvitations of speakers, and a host of new speech-inhibiting policies instituted by campus bureaucracies are now commonplace. Critics claim that these actions and measures have smothered the open and honest discourse, inside and outside the classroom, that is so necessary for a meaningful and vibrant education. Others consider the fears of crisis to be overblown, discerning the harms as less extensive in the vast domain of higher education than critics acknowledge.

Drawing on his extensive research, teaching, and practical experience as a free speech and academic freedom leader at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and nationwide, Donald A. Downs portrays the university as an “intellectual polis” where free and honest academic discourse should pervade. His unique approach addresses the experiential, empirical, strategic, and philosophical dimensions at stake.

Free Speech and Liberal A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance dissects the nature, extent, and causes of speech suppression. It emphasizes the need for intellectual diversity and shows how repression often coexists with counterforces, which need to be energized and mobilized in what Downs portrays as the “embattled” status of academic free speech. The text discusses the harms that the new policies and actions pose to liberal education, as well as the broader structural and societal threats to academic freedom. It also shows how to mobilize to protect campus freedom using resources inside and outside the classroom and, most importantly, why robust free speech and academic freedom are so important to both liberal education and the prospects of liberal democracy.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 25, 2020

Reviews

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downs provides an informed and balanced assessment of the current debate about free speech in and on college campuses. The book is timely, such that he likely had new cases and facts to cite during the course of writing over the past two years. The good news is that, despite the sensational stories, the debate is continuing within the halls of at least some academic circles, including among students. At the same time, there is a disturbing undercurrent of students and faculty who would end education’s most foundational purpose in order to not have to encounter ideas different than their own.

[Joan D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I particularly liked finding out about the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education or F.I.R.E.