Forum: A Gaggle of Gags (Not the Funny Kind)

My mother always told me it was impolite to tell others to shut up. We Americans must be more impolite these days, because we seem to spend a lot of time telling one another to shut up. Two of the more pernicious kinds of shutting up are happening on our college and university campuses. One is the penchant of government, the other of some campus constituents.

PEN America, an advocate for free expression, has identified over 100 “educational gag order” bills introduced in 33 state legislatures since January 2021 to restrict what can be taught in college classrooms. As of this writing, eight of these bills have become law in eight states, affecting 43 million Americans. Over the last few years, we have also seen high-profile instances of students shouting down speakers on campuses, most recently at Stanford Law School, and of university administrators attempting to silence faculty or staff members who disagree with an institutional policy or position.

It’s clear that external and internal threats are mounting against what Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1957 called the four freedoms of the university: “to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” In such an environment, presidents and system heads often find themselves in an impossible position. Criticizing gag orders or other censorship could make it difficult for them to secure or maintain needed funding or support for their institutions, inviting negative consequences for all.

Recently, PEN America, in collaboration with Campus Compact—a higher education association dedicated to civic and community engagement—convened an initiative of nearly 200 former university and college leaders to address these issues. They are known as the Champions of Higher Education, committed to promoting a positive vision of American higher education as an essential guarantor of free expression in a democracy, and advocating against attempts to quash academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the right of students to learn. I am one of the original signers of the group’s statement of purpose.

The former presidents in the Champions group are no longer caught in the bind of our still-serving colleagues. We understand from hard-earned experience the complexities and the necessity of maintaining the university’s independence so that its multifarious, often clashing voices can nourish the lifeblood of a diverse democracy. We are committed to ensuring that American higher education is a place where all viewpoints, right and left alike, get a fair hearing, and where varying perspectives and ideologies are represented within student bodies, faculties, and administrations. We are not advocating being “woke,” but awake to all the possibilities and challenges of American society.

So what is at stake? I’d argue nothing less than the future of American democracy itself. As the Champions statement argues: “It is the vital connective tissue of campus free expression that enables higher education to drive lucrative economic growth, vibrant cultural creations, life-saving scientific advances, and the informed and empathetic populace necessary for an effective democratic society.”¹ This kind of populace is the sine qua non of democracy.

As American citizens, we have an obligation to listen attentively to the strengths and weaknesses of public policy positions laid out by proponents and adversaries, not to gag one or the other because they disagree with our own current thinking. We have a responsibility not to silence or scream at our fellow citizens who don’t share our opinion. It’s on all of us to argue with one another—strongly, civilly, respectfully—so that we might come to some uncomfortable common ground that moves the country forward in the interests of all.

Universities and colleges are made to convene and encourage that kind of reasoned, intense, productive argument, and to teach our young people how to do that difficult democratic dance. The example students have too often seen is of American adults on different sides of an issue trying to bludgeon the other into mute acquiescence. For future generations to enjoy the immense benefits of democracy, we need to turn this anti-democratic behavior around. To accomplish that, higher education institutions need to be free of government gag orders, and need to prevent some members of the campus community from obstructing the freedom of others to express views they reject or even loathe.

If you’re not made uncomfortable at some points in the course of your education, you’re probably not getting a very good one. Moreover, as citizens of a democracy, we have a moral obligation to allow ourselves to be made intellectually uncomfortable by walking a mile in the shoes of our fellow citizens who are headed down a different path. That border-jumping is how we get to the public policy compromises on which democracy depends. So let’s let our elected representatives know, and let’s remind ourselves, that we want to fulfill our citizenship responsibility by engaging vigorously with our political adversaries, not by shutting them down.

Kevin P. Reilly, PhD, is president emeritus and regent professor, University of Wisconsin System.