"Of necessity, universities must at times curate and make distinctions of legitimacy: When hiring faculty or establishing departments, universities must set standards rather than randomly appointing every idiot as a professor. But it does not follow that these high standards must be applied to every moment spent on every inch of campus. We don't want colleges to hire idiots, but it's extremely dangerous to apply the "no idiots" rule to every extramural utterance on a campus by a speaker or by a professor."
"If we compelled professors to make accepted, true statements every time they opened their mouth in a classroom or a conversation or a social media outlet, pretty quickly the only words professors would feel safe to utter would be the scripted, approved messages of those in power. We must not make the mistake of believing that because universities may function as "legitimating institutions," every idea uttered on campus must meet academic standards."
The curatorial approach is wrong. Universities must at times set standards when hiring faculty or creating departments to maintain qualifications and avoid appointing incompetents. Those standards should not be extended to regulate every utterance across campus, because applying a blanket "no idiots" rule to speakers or professors risks chilling speech. Forcing professors to speak only accepted, true statements would produce scripted messaging and erode academic freedom. Allowing all ideas to be heard prevents mass repression and preserves open inquiry, even when unpopular or mistaken views appear in some campus corners.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
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