Cece O’Leary, Director of SLF’s 1A Project, joins the Kate Dalley Show to discuss SLF’s latest legal action against 12 colleges and universities across the country.
O’Leary explains that attacks on free speech are happening everywhere these days, from K-12 schools, to junior colleges, to state universities and ivy leagues. As part of its 1A Project, SLF is bringing awareness to these attacks by sending letters to colleges engaging in unconstitutional censorship. O’Leary says that colleges are censoring students through facilities use policies, where students must receive approval before engaging in speech activities, and through bias reporting systems, where colleges urge students to report each other anytime they feel offended.
O’Leary explains that these policies–often intended to shelter students–will only harm students in the long run:
“The purpose of the college experience is to engage in debate and discussion and to challenge others’ beliefs and to challenge your own beliefs in the pursuit of truth. By creating these safe spaces and these reporting systems, and thinking that they’re sheltering students, colleges are actually doing them a disservice because they’re only on campus for four years until they go out into the real world. And sooner or later, they’re going to run into views they don’t like.”
Listen to the full interview at katedalleyshow.com.