In media and academia, the more voices, the better
By: North County Times - Editorial | ∞
Our View: We have some qualms about the "Student Bill of Rights" proffered by Sen. Bill Morrow, which is discussed at length elsewhere in this section today. But because diversity of thought is at the very heart of this Opinion page's mission, it's fitting to present a spectrum of perspectives on Morrow's salvo into the debate over academic freedom.
College campuses should be cauldrons of controversy from which many views, including unpopular ones, may bubble up into the intellectual atmosphere. Morrow and other conservative critics contend that liberals have overtaken the ivory towers of higher learning, squashing right-leaning rhetoric through intimidation, biased curriculum and politically motivated grades.
While the individual infringements cited by the bill's backers deserve redress, the solution won't be found in yet another layer of political bureaucracy, which is what Morrow's bill promises in its ultimate application.
In a free society blessed with ample protections of speech and press, minority voices are always best served by impassioned efforts to expose injustice. Of any place on earth, that should surely be so on college campuses.
However, we believe the Legislature should allow the state's colleges and universities to find the path to free speech and diversity of ideas without its intervention.
As difficult as it is to believe in this age of information overload, the solution, as ever, is in more speech, not less.
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