(NewsWorthy.news) – During a March 5 speaking engagement, New York Post writer Rikki Schlott and Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression CEO Greg Lukianoff evaluated the current climate of free speech and intellectual expression on university campuses and in national discourse.
Lukianoff and Schlott’s latest book, The Canceling of the American Mind, examines cancel culture as a problematic component of Americans’ struggle for power, prestige, and control.
The American Mind speaker series, presented by Wayne and Heterodox Academy, discussed the crisis of freedom of speech in higher education.
According to left-of-center liberal Lukianoff, young people link free speech with prejudice when it protects minority viewpoints unpopular with authority. He believes the left-right political competition for university free speech has increased national scrutiny.
Elite higher learning is losing intellectual validity owing to campus speech threats, according to Lukianoff. He stressed that dissent is necessary for meaningful concept exploration and in a knowledge-producing atmosphere where doubting authoritative wisdom causes problems.
Schlott, a conservative New York University undergraduate, has supported liberty of speech since her high school years. Schlott believes her generation was educated differently, such as that words can be violent and one should be protected from differing opinions.
In 2021, she wrote about her university experience, dropping out because there was no ideological support. Schlott thinks free speech is a philosophical enterprise and believes people now see college campuses’ lack of perspective variety and civil debate.
In FIRE’s 2024 College Free Speech Rankings, Cornell ranked 212th out of 248 institutions with a below-average speech atmosphere. The only Ivy League university with an average rating was Brown University, in 69th position. Harvard, with a poor free speech environment, ranked at the bottom.
Lukianoff also attacked Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) for being the opposite of what it claims to be. He stated that DEI always requires ‘morality’ in groups but not for individuals.
He said that freedom to speak is essential, but he doubted authorities would follow through on its protections.
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