Now here’s a story!
There’s a petition going around at Wesleyan University in Middletown calling for a boycott and the defunding of the student newspaper known as the Wesleyan Argus. It’s front page news in the Argus and it’s gaining national attention.
The controversy has apparently been simmering for some time among some Argus readers but really took off following the recent publication of an opinion piece criticizing the black lives matter movement and some of its tactics(Argus response to criticisms). According to the Argus, 147 students have signed the boycott petition. The issue will be the subject of a public hearing before the Wesleyan Student Assembly on the 27th.
We suggest the students signing the petition audit Journalism 101 before proceeding further. In this class they would learn that the way to combat opinions you disagree with is to express your own opinion without insisting that others be silenced. This is the hard part of defending freedom of speech. They might also learn that allowing the expression of offensive opinions is usually the best way to defeat them.
We wonder what William Manchester would think of this debate? He might suggest that defunding the Argus would be a hollow victory because it would deny all sides a platform for expression.
But we could be wrong.
