Silence! I’m An Expert: Progressive Dominance and the Crisis of Free Speech

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW266037358 BCX4"> <p><span data-contrast="auto">Last week, the</span> <a href= "https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1732179418787783089"><span data-contrast="none"> presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT</span></a> <span data-contrast="auto">refused to condemn calls for Jewish genocide as bullying or harassment. While horrible antisemitic speech and behavior</span> <span data-contrast= "none">have long been defended on their campuses, this debacle occurred before</span> <span data-contrast="auto">the United States Congress.</span> <span data-contrast="none">The presidents</span> <em><span data-contrast="none">attempted</span></em> <span data-contrast="none">to appeal to free speech rights, differentiating between speech and conduct via statements obviously crafted by lawyers. Their comments shocked and outraged many. UPenn’s president resigned, after initially attempting to walk back her comments. Harvard’s president quickly apologized, while the MIT b</span><span data-contrast="auto">oard of directors issued a statement in support of their president.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":0,"335559740":480}"> </span></p> <p><span data-contrast="auto">Recently, the pseudonymous Tyler Durden</span> <a href= "https://www.zerohedge.com/political/professors-free-speech-and-intellectual-diversity-are-not-essential-higher-education?fbclid=IwAR2tk-1fiV9fVlrNidd8MukLeKzDW246aQq2SIv9Azc8CkCGfXIyhV3NdiQ"> <span data-contrast="none">documented the scope of the left’s stranglehold on academia</span></a> <span data-contrast="auto">at the</span> <em><span data-contrast="auto">ZeroHedge</span></em> <span data-contrast="auto">website. A new survey by</span> <em><span data-contrast="auto">The Harvard Crimson</span></em> <a href= "https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/5/22/faculty-survey-2023-politics/"> <span data-contrast="none">found</span></a> <span data-contrast= "auto">that more than three-quarters of surveyed Harvard faculty identified