Roundup: Law School Faculty on Free Expression at UChicago

September 6, 2016

Two weeks ago, John Ellison, Dean of Students in the College, sent a letter to the College's class of 2020 that included the statement:

Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so­-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.

Since then, Law School faculty members have been asked to weigh in on the meaning and context of the letter. A roundup of recent stories:

• Geoffrey R. Stone: 'Free Expression in Peril' (The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 26, 2016)
• Geoffrey R. Stone on UChicago's Principles of Free Expression (Audio) (Here & Now, August 26, 2016)
• Daniel Hemel on Safe Spaces (Whatever Source Derived, August 28, 2016)
• Geoffrey R. Stone on Campus Free Speech Principles and History (Video) (CNN, August 29, 2016)
• Mary Anne Case on Trigger Warnings (The Takeaway, August 29, 2016)
• Geoffrey R. Stone on Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces (Audio) (The Brian Lehrer Show, September 1, 2016)
• Long-time faculty member Cass Sunstein: 'A Fix for the Culture Wars' (Bloomberg, September 7, 2016)