New in PJ Media:
Could the far-Left wasteland of Leftist indoctrination that is American academia today finally be recovering some semblance of sanity? A hint that it might be came recently from the University of Chicago (UC), which, according to a Friday report in the Daily Caller, “appears to be gearing up to launch a center dedicated to freedom of expression, a listing on a university job board shows.” But those who understand the importance of the freedom of speech as the foundation of any free society shouldn’t get too excited about this. Given the prevailing winds, the UC center is likely to be more properly named the Center for Leftist Freedom of Expression.
That isn’t to say that the university isn’t sounding all the right notes. According to the post advertising for an executive director for the new Center (Oh, pick me, sir! Pick me!), the “new Center for Free Expression that will build on” the university’s self-proclaimed “historic commitment” to “Free Expression and open discourse.” It will “practice to provide a focal point for understanding and advancing free expression, in academia and the broader culture, in the United States and abroad.” It will apparently be about the freedom of expression as a concept more than an arena for the actual exercise of the thing itself, as it will “engage scholars, community leaders, public officials, and policy makers to better understand and advocate for the principles of free expression.”
All this will, we’re told, form students who understand, value, and are able to defend the freedom of expression: the Center “will develop robust programs to encourage students to develop the skills and habits of mind that are essential to scholarly discourse, and it will promote a commitment to free expression and open discourse both within and beyond the University of Chicago.”
Gee, that all sounds swell, but the university is short on specifics. When asked about the Center, Gerald McSwiggan, UC’s associate director for public affairs, responded: “We don’t have information to share at the moment. We look forward to sharing additional details in the following months.” But the ball is definitely rolling. An associate professor in UC’s geophysical sciences department, Dorian Abbot, said happily that the Center would “coordinate academic freedom orientation, lectures, and events. I am excited to participate!”
Far be it from me to dampen young Abbot’s enthusiasm, and I hate to be the one who is throwing the rotting cabbage onto the beautiful new sofa, but there is abundant reason to suspect that UC’s grand new free speech center will become just another mouthpiece for the Left. Even as Leftists grow ever more open in their authoritarianism and effort to silence dissidents, there are numerous examples of them turning around and simultaneously preening as champions of the freedom of speech that they’re otherwise trying to destroy.
There is more. Read the rest here.
somehistory says
Didn’t someone say that “freedom is never free’? In their world, the one being pushed upon us all today, in order to have the freedom to speak, one must only speak what these people want to be spoken.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
To the left, ‘Freedom of Expression’ implies the freedom to suppress all opinion at odds w/ them, under the pretext of being ‘factual’ or ‘reality’ based
mea says
2302110 reply to judicial watch article about Chicago campus free speech promoting operation… J W is referencing the educational indoctrination arm of the government offices occupying Hate America to Destruction politi’Kal ‘Klass’s university of Moscow on the Hudson K – 12 thru politi’Kally ‘Korrect ‘Krap marxist Toady advanced degree indoctrination system.
in Oregon the k thru a 12 operation has been turned into a 16 – 18 thousand dollar, totally valueless, student diploma mill.. diploma mills are no meaningful testing to established learning economic : life relevant value frauds.
Fraud is a felony, but no parents in any of the 37 Oregon counties are suing the entire government educational hoax for looting under pretense of education fraud Or filing/prosecuting charges for the looting faux educational fraud.being visited on them/their family.
And so it goes with the marxist indoctrinated, do nothing, “what ? me worry” toadies who vote their straight democrat : marxist henchwomen into office every year for the last 35 year.
Walter Sieruk says
George Washington had, very wisely, declared, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter.”
Walter Sieruk says
George Washington had, very wisely, declared, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter.”