The Marketplace of Racist Ideas

Abstract

This commentary examines academic freedom in the context of racist campus speech. Drawing on both historical and contemporary events, it argues that the protection of racist campus speech – and the emphasis from some elements of the political left and right on the importance of of protecting such speech – in fact suppresses ideas and speech from faculty and students of color. In particular, protecting racist campus speech silences anti-racist ideas and speech. This suppression results in substantial harms to academic freedom for groups and ideas that badly need it: faculty and students of color, who are often underrepresented and marginalized on campus, and anti-racist speech, which is frequently treated as unimportant or unintellectual.