I’m
old enough to remember a time when college students objected to
providing a platform to certain speakers because they were deemed
politically unacceptable. Now students worry whether acts of speech or
pieces of writing may put them in emotional peril. Two weeks ago,
students at Northwestern University marched to protest an article by
Laura Kipnis, a professor in the university’s School of Communication.
Professor Kipnis had criticized — O.K., ridiculed — what she called the
sexual paranoia pervading campus life.
old enough to remember a time when college students objected to
providing a platform to certain speakers because they were deemed
politically unacceptable. Now students worry whether acts of speech or
pieces of writing may put them in emotional peril. Two weeks ago,
students at Northwestern University marched to protest an article by
Laura Kipnis, a professor in the university’s School of Communication.
Professor Kipnis had criticized — O.K., ridiculed — what she called the
sexual paranoia pervading campus life.
protesters carried mattresses and demanded that the administration
condemn the essay. One student complained that Professor Kipnis was
“erasing the very traumatic experience” of victims who spoke out. An
organizer of the demonstration said, “we need to be setting aside spaces
to talk” about “victim-blaming.” Last Wednesday, Northwestern’s
president, Morton O. Schapiro, wrote an op-ed article in The Wall Street
Journal affirming his commitment to academic freedom.