Since last fall, when Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians sparked the current war in Gaza, college campuses have become proving grounds for First Amendment rights to free speech. In this episode, hosts Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo discuss the increasing concerns surrounding cancel culture and free speech on college campuses with Greg Lukianoff, head of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Lukianoff offers his perspective on what university leaders are getting wrong—and getting right—in handling free-speech matters.
“Even though Dartmouth did not do very well in the campus free speech ranking, Sian Beilock, the new president of Dartmouth, I have some real hope for. One of the reasons why they didn’t have a major blow-up after October 7th is they started the hard work of having dialogue between pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel students almost like a year before the blow-ups. They already had done the hard work of being like, ‘Oh, actually, yeah, no, people who are not stupid or evil disagree on this one.’ Some of the stuff they’re trying to do at Dartmouth gives me some hope,” said Lukianoff.