Political commentator Reza Aslan allegedly argued that colleges should establish rules on who is not permitted to speak on campus.
According to a report by Campus Reform, popular leftist commentator Reza Aslan recently argued that colleges and university should more clearly establish who is not permitted to speak on campus. Aslan’s remarks, which came during a lecture at Williams College, were highlighted by Williams Professor Luana Maroja during a podcast with a representative of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
During his lecture, Aslan “said that colleges should write rules on stone on who can and cannot speak [o]n campus,” according to Maroja.
Maroja claims that the Williams College students gave Aslan a standing ovation when he called for censorship on campus. “He ended up saying that only factual talks can happen [o]n campus. So, opinions cannot be expressed – only factual talks,” Maroja said during the podcast. “And again, a standing ovation from students.”
Breitbart News reported in April that students erupted into an uproar after they learned that the faculty was considering a proposal to adopt the Chicago principles, a set of guidelines written by the University of Chicago that is designed to enhance speech protections on college campuses.
At the time, Maroja claims that students argued that the faculty would effectively be trying to “kill” them if they adopted the Chicago principles. The students argued that unrestricted free speech harms minority groups.
In June, a Williams College President Maud Mandel responded in a letter to a faculty committee on “Inquiry and Inclusion” by arguing that “hate speech” has a negative effect on campus life.
“Williams, like other schools around the country, is debating how to uphold principles of open inquiry and free expression. The debate has focused on how to do so while not providing a platform for hate speech, racism, or other forces that are corrosive to a learning community,” the letter read.