The University of California is about to ban all offensive statements and acts
On Thursday, the University of California regents are expected to affirm a "Statement of Principles against Intolerance" (PDF) which asserts that "Everyone in the University community has the right to study, teach, conduct research, and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance."
The measure bans a wide range of speech and actions, from graffiti of the swastika to any verbal expression of hate for an individual or group. And while the statement says it will "not apply to the free exchange of ideas in keeping with the principles of academic freedom and free speech," that assurance has not allayed concerns that the new policy will limit speech on campus by asserting a right not to be offended.
UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh argues that the statement will have a chilling effect on discussion of controversial subjects for students and non-tenured faculty concerned about losing their place in the school community. "The authors of the proposal love free and open exchange of ideas," he says of the regents' broad proscriptions, "until some ideas they dislike about, say, disabilities are expressed."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
'The hard reality of an aging society'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
A brief timeline of Russia's war in Ukraine
In Depth How the Kremlin's plan for a quick conquest turned into a quagmire
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US energy regulator OKs rule to boost power grid
Speed Read The grid overhaul aims to meet a surging electricity demand
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published