Academia Goes Silent on Free Speech
Yale's decision to censor anti-Muslim cartoons deserved a thoughtful debate. We didn't get one.

by Peter Berkowitz
The Wall Street Journal
October 17, 2009

https://www.legal-project.org/525/academia-goes-silent-on-free-speech

Excerpt:

Professors have a professional interest in—indeed a professional duty to uphold—liberty of thought and discussion. But in recent years, precisely where they should be most engaged and outspoken they have been apathetic and inarticulate.

Consider Yale. On Oct. 1, the university hosted Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. His drawing of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban became the best known of 12 cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. That led to deadly protests throughout the Muslim world. On the same day, at an unrelated event, Yale hosted Brandeis Prof. Jytte Klausen. Her new book, "The Cartoons that Shook the World," was subject in August to a last minute prepublication decision by Yale President Richard Levin and Yale University Press to remove not only the 12 cartoons but also all representations of Muhammad, including respected works of art.

Read the complete original version of this item...

receive the latest by email: subscribe to the legal project's free mailing list