image via The Washington Times
On inauguration night, Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos spoke at the University of Washington in Kane Hall. The event, which was hosted by the College Republicans at the University of Washington, was highly controversial because of Yiannopoulos’ far right political views. His comments are often labeled as racist, misogynistic, and Islamaphobic. Yiannopoulos himself has called feminism and the Black Lives matter movement “toxic to free expression.” He has argued that rape culture does not exist and that people become feminists because they are too unattractive. Yiannopoulos supports the idea that hate speech is free speech and seeks to throw political correctness out the window. He has most recently caused controversy by starting a scholarship open only to white males.
Events took a violent turn at UW during Yiannopoulos’ speech when a man was shot and injured during protests outside of Kane Hall in Red Square. Violence seems to erupt at every college Yiannopoulos speaks at. His events needed to be cancelled at UC Davis and UCLA due to safety concerns. Most recently at UC Berkeley, a known beacon of free speech, Yiannopoulos’ speech was also cancelled after protests on-campus turned violent. Yiannopoulos wanted to tackle left-leaning universities on the West Coast specifically to challenge liberal ideas and persuade young minds.
After the startling on-campus shooting at UW, the university’s president, Ana Mari Cauce, wrote a letter that was emailed to all UW students. In the letter, she revealed that while she herself finds Yiannopoulos’ views repulsive, she agreed to allow him to speak on campus for the sake of upholding the right to free speech. Cauce wrote, “And while cancelling this event would have meant cancelling a speech by someone whose views I personally find repulsive, the next time it could be a speaker whose views are more in line with mine, but anathema to someone else.” The events that unfolded on UW’s campus and President Cauce’s letter demonstrate a predicament that I think many colleges will need to grapple with under the current divisive political climate and that is the balancing of free speech and campus safety.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution enshrines the right to freedom of speech, and political speech is often the most vehemently protected form of speech. Thus, individuals should be able to express their political views and engage in dialogue and debate openly. The argument can also be made, however, that universities have the authority to regulate speech because they serve as safe spaces where all students should feel welcome so that they have the equal opportunity to learn and be educated. This begs the question, where do we draw the line, if there is a line to be drawn, between protected political speech and hateful speech that has the power to incite violence and jeopardize the safety of students? Universities must figure out how to effectively reconcile free speech and safety.