Amherst, NY (WBEN) - While a public speaking appearance on the campus of the University at Buffalo is gaining attention for the backlash it has drawn, at least one free speech group is applauding how the University is handling controversy.
Conservative political commenter Michael Knowles is set to speak at UB Thursday night. Knowles was invited to campus by the Young Americans for Freedom club, and in recent days sparked outrage after his speech at the CPAC Conference where he called for "transgenderism to be eradicated."
While Knowles has said that those comments have been misinterpreted, they have led university professors and even some local lawmakers to say that he should be uninvited. UB President Satish Tripathi though said that the university must support the principles of the First Amendment.
Those calls for cancellation and the University's response have been watched closely by Zach Greenberg, a Program Officer at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). FIRE's mission since being founded in 1999 is to defend and promote the value of free speech.
Greenberg spoke with me about the organization's efforts to preserve free speech, and why that battleground is on college campuses:
Brian Mazurowski: This scenario playing out at The University at Buffalo seems to illustrate why your organization exists in the first place
Zach Greenberg: This case is on our radar because we are interested in university responses to controversial speakers. Our goal is to defend freedom of speech and the First Amendment in a non-partisan manner. We defend individual speakers regardless of what they say as long as they're protected by the First Amendment whether they're from the left or right, controversial or benign, we will defend their rights.
In this case, student groups have the right to host controversial speakers on campus. When they do it's a great opportunity for the student body to learn, educate themselves, and to confront opposing views. Here we have a very controversial speaker, Michael Knowles, and it's great to see the university allow the speech to go on and to allow a Q and A session for students to engage in discussion.
This used to be where you would expect the ACLU to be involved... Why the need for an organization like FIRE?
FIRE's calling card is unapologetic defense of free speech. We defend a wide array of expressive rights, particularly on campus. We will take cases that feature speakers that students may feel are distasteful because we believe the First Amendment protects people equally. Everyone has a right to free speech, including speech that may offend others or many people.
What do you make of the University at Buffalo's response to this?
It's a good response. We're glad to see the University recognize its First Amendment legal obligations to free speech. They're doing the right thing by allowing the speaker to come to campus and by not shutting down the speaker or silencing the speaker.
Universities have the right to condemn the speaker. They have their own free speech rights to express their own views about the speakers that come to campus. It's important to recognize that Universities need not either endorse or agree with every single speaker or student group that is on its campus and it can have its own views about what it believes. The important thing is the speaker is allowed to come to campus and students are allowed to protest the speaker without disrupting him and present their own views in the marketplace of ideas.
Why is this phenomenon seemingly playing out exclusively on college campuses?
This phenomenon of shutting down speakers seems to be limited to the campus environment. I guess our theory would be that many college students mistakingly believe that this is an acceptable way to protest speakers and get their points across. They mistakingly believe that silencing speakers and censoring your opponent is an effective persuasive technique. That's the complete opposite of what a free speech culture should entail. It should entail having a discussion, engaging with opposing viewpoints, getting into the weeds of the ideas of the viewpoints being expressed.
We always urge students to take a 'more speech' approach. To use your own speech, your own facilities to advance your viewpoints. We hope this phenomenon does not spread to outside society, we hope universities will educate their students when it comes to proper ways to protest and the ways they can do so under the First Amendment.
