Just published as part of the symposium “Non-Governmental Restrictions on Free Speech”; here is the introduction (the article is here):
To what extent are free speech and open discussion stifled on college campuses?
This question arouses strong disagreements. Where some see a serious problem, others deny that there is any real reason to worry. Notably, for example, my fellow panelist, Professor Mary Anne Franks, criticized what she calls “the censored campus myth” while decrying the “false narrative” of political intolerance on college campuses. Professor Jeffrey Adam Sachs similarly writes of the “myth” of a free speech crisis on campuses, which he associates with a kind of “moral panic” due to conservative “hysteria”. In an article titled “Free speech on campus is doing great, thank you,” Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, a leading expert on free speech and First Amendmentdismisses concerns about the current state of free speech and open discussion as being due to
a handful of sensationalist incidents on campus, incidents sometimes fabricated for their propaganda value. They do not shed any light on the current reality of university culture.
Many similar expressions of this general theme can be found; skepticism that there is a real problem is well represented both inside and outside academia. Indeed, skeptics often claim not only that there is no need to worry, but that worrying is in itself pernicious, insofar as it plays into the hands of reactionary political interests.
Despite frequent assurances that there is nothing to worry about when it comes to free speech on campus, and even warnings that worrying about such things is actually harmful, I confess to being one of those who care. Much of my concern centers on the phenomenon now widely known as cancel culture. The definition of “cancel culture” is disputed. For this reason, and in order to focus on the phenomenon I wish to explore, in the following section I offer a number of cases which I believe could qualify as examples of cancel culture to any reasonable understanding. of this concept. The cases I offer are not hypothetical cases but actual cases involving current Princeton undergraduate students. While they of course differ from each other and from other examples of cancel culture in their idiosyncratic details, I believe that in important respects they are broadly representative of the phenomenon as it exists on college campuses. contemporaries.
After focusing on the target phenomenon, I will offer an analysis of what I consider to be some of its most important characteristics. I will focus on understanding cancel culture as a rational Phenomenon: According to the account I offer in Part II, students who actively participate in cancel culture, or who attempt to cancel their fellow students, often act with impeccable rationality given their goals and preferences , even if their behavior is reprehensible in other respects. . In part three, I turn to the most common considerations offered by skeptics and argue that they are unconvincing. In the conclusion, I note a number of factors that could cause us to systematically underestimate the seriousness of the problem.