Re “Brandeis Cancels Plan to Give Honorary Degree to Rights Advocate, a Critic of Islam” (news article, April 9):
Justice Louis D. Brandeis would be turning over in his grave. The university named after the former Supreme Court justice has illustrated the depths of small-minded bigotry and intolerance that now represent the culture on many campuses.
In rescinding an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis University has abandoned academic freedom and responsibility. Disinviting a controversial figure for fear of student backlash and upset sensitivities sends a perverse message that a college education must never dare offend.
How ironic that it was Justice Brandeis himself who understood that the essence of the free exchange of ideas—something to which virtually all universities nominally adhere—is “to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies,” not by “enforced silence.”
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has been watching the spectacle of “disinvitation season,” when universities cave in to the loudest bullies.
We call on the Brandeis trustees in particular and higher education leaders everywhere to withstand this trend and to stand firm in defense of the free exchange of ideas—the essence of a liberal education.
The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents has adopted a swath of changes to fight back against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology and to strengthen academic integrity across its campuses.
Yale University administrators urged a student group to adopt a policy of “broad neutrality” after clashes over Palestinian advocacy. Some say the vague directive could chill speech.
As Yale University weighs an institutional neutrality policy, administrators have ordered the university’s Women’s Center to adopt a stance of “broad neutrality” that has left some students wondering what that means for an organization that has historically been activist.
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