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"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker." — Frederick Douglass
Universities play an important role in fostering the free exchange of ideas, and therefore shoulder a special responsibility in standing up against violence and intimidation of those who express controversial viewpoints.
On Oct. 14, the threat of violence led to the cancellation of a Utah State University campus talk by Anita Sarkeesian on the depiction of women in video games. The threat of violence was great enough and specific enough that the invited speaker was forced, in the interest of her own safety and the safety of her audience members, to cancel her talk.
As feminists and gender scholars at USU, we write to affirm the importance of free speech and open non-violent debate on campus. The talk by Ms. Sarkeesian was not intended to indoctrinate but rather to raise provocative and controversial issues about gender and sexuality in popular culture. Audience members were not expected to agree with or even enjoy the talk. Rather, the talk was intended to provoke healthy and lively debate among university citizens. After all, learning from perspectives other than our own — even and especially perspectives that challenge our own — is part of the business of a university.
The cancellation of this talk due to the threat of violence harms us all because it undermines the right to free speech which serves as a central pillar to freedom in a democratic society. Historically, public universities have served as a critical space where individuals are free to discuss and debate controversial topics of the day. From the student groups that launched the civil rights movement to the student-led organizations who fought for better labor practices in university apparel, the university has been a critical site of political engagement precisely because it fostered the free exchange of ideas.
If we fail to collectively protect that space, we are all harmed. And, more fundamentally, our democracy is weakened. We call upon university communities and the community at large to engage in constructive — if sometimes uncomfortable — conversation about controversial topics. If we as citizens allow this to stand, the next speech to be silenced might be our own.
Ann Austin, Alanna Beason, Kyle Bulthuis,
Ronda Callister, Candi Carter Olson, Susan Cogan,
Alison Cook, Christy Glass, Li Guo, Erin Hofmann,
So-jung Lim, Jessica Lucero, Colleen O'Neill,
Claudia Radel and Helga Van Miegroet
Utah State University