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Silence Speaks Volumes at NYU
New York University prides itself on being a 鈥減rivate university in the public service,鈥 but talk is cheap鈥攖hat is, when it isn鈥檛 silenced altogether. Despite the lofty aspirations of the school鈥檚 motto, in late March NYU decided that certain types of speech on campus just aren鈥檛 entitled to the core First Amendment protections relied upon by every American with something to say.
On March 30, a panel discussion entitled 鈥淔ree Speech and the Danish Cartoons,鈥 hosted by NYU鈥檚 Objectivist Club, was censored by NYU officials, who refused to allow the event to proceed as planned (and be open to the public) if the editorial cartoons were shown. NYU鈥檚 miserable failure to protect intellectual inquiry was widely noticed by the press, drawing criticism from sources including and The New York Post.
Discussions similar to the one censored by NYU took places at four other schools around the country鈥攁t , the , , and . No violence or censorship occurred at any of these events; just meaningful, informed discussion. At the other schools, university administrators realized their duty as educators to promote opportunities for intellectual dialogue. At NYU, students were instead taught a shameful lesson about the power of threats and fear to censor.
In a letter sent on April 17 from 麻豆传媒IOS President Greg Lukianoff, NYU was asked to account for their actions and to explain the discrepancies between their stated policy on university events and the censorship that occurred that night in March. To date, 麻豆传媒IOS has received no reply. NYU鈥檚 silence speaks volumes about the university鈥檚 commitment鈥攐r lack thereof鈥攖o free speech and intellectual debate.
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