Free speech at Stanford, of course, is no more endangered than at other institutions. In January of this year, for example, FIRE published the results of a survey of 2225 college students that found 57% think university administrators should be able to restrict views that some see as hurtful or offensive. Even though the fate of free speech at Stanford may be no worse than at other institutions, it is also no better, and the fact that threats to it are so common across similar and different campuses makes what is happening there of interest to more than its students and alumni. Thus, its recent symposium is sadly, revealingly relevant.
When I was at what was then St. Joseph's College at the beginning of the '60s, the overall political complexion was liberal Democratic. But when some of us — led by future Secretary of the Navy John Lehman — started a conservative club, we were just looked on as eccentric. Discussion was free and open. I think that was because all of us already had a religion. No one thought of turning politics into one.
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