“F%*# Free Speech”: College professor uses free speech to bash free speech

The annual Constitution Day Lecture, given by Professor Carolyn Rouse, Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Program in African Studies, included an interesting slant on free speech. Apparently, “the academy has never promoted free speech as a central value.”

Rouse communicated her belief that knowing the culture should lead to self-censoring, and she shared the importance of understanding that words have different meanings depending on their context and the culture.

According to Rouse, “free-speech absolutism doesn’t exist” because people self-censor in order to be understood and appropriate.

“Language is partial. It relies on context for comprehensibility and can have implications that go far beyond simply hurting somebody’s feelings. Put simply, speech is costly,” she said, during her lecture. “So, contrary to the ACLU’s statement on their website regarding the role of free speech on college campuses, the academy has never promoted free speech as its central value.”

Rouse’s goal, she shared, was that her lecture would cause people to “rethink academic freedom and academic values.”

During question and answer period, Rouse was asked how instructors should handle issues of free speech as they arise in the classroom. She acknowledged that every university has a unique mission, but said that she believes universities should “educate our students against—I would call it ignorance.”

Rouse contends that “free-speech absolutism” has never been considered a core academic value. She called universities “semi-autonomous social fields” and explained that, as such, they have their own internal system for creating rules. These “semi-autonomous social fields” are not obligated to hold to free speech as a core value.

However, the irony of this event was not lost on Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. In response to news of the theme of the lecture, he tweeted, “Ironically, they can do so because of the freedom of speech.”

Similarly, Twitter account PoliticallyUncorrect tweeted, “#Irony. Using your free speech to bash free speech.”

The event was cosponsored by the Program in Law and Public Affairs, the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and the Department of Anthropology.