I was a freshman at the University of Utah in the fall of 1963. I attended a talk by Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi and an old-line segregationist of the George Wallace school. I agreed with not one word of what he said, but the audience heard him out with no disruptions. A few days later, we heard from civil rights crusader Dr. James Nabrit. I was there for that one, too.

I remember thinking, “This is what a university is all about. Opposing points of view, freely and eloquently expressed.”

Dear U. students and faculty of 2017: Please don’t abandon the principles that make a university great. Freedom of speech is not just for those you agree with.

Karen Bryan, Kearns