Book Review: Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus by Donald Alexander Downs
Federal Lawyer 53, August 2006
Elon University Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2013-05
4 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2013 Last revised: 24 Jul 2013
Date Written: August 1, 2006
Abstract
John Stuart Mill said that silencing opinion is inimical to truth's production. Mill understood that untested opinions become dogma, believed out of habit rather than reason. One would assume that this principle would be best understood at our colleges and universities. But as Donald Downs reports in his "Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus," through speech codes, anti-harassment policies, political correctness, college students are as exposed as often to untested opinions as to the production of truth. College students are learning, wrongly, that society will protect their right not to be offended.
Keywords: First Amendment, Education Law, Free Speech, Speech Codes
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