Free speech and college campuses have had a long, symbiotic relationship. From anti-war protests to the more recent campus race protests, colleges have served as environments for students to air their grievances and anger. Now the question lies in its boundaries: how can colleges balance student safety with free speech?

Upper School Director Andy King recently addressed this issue in the Opening Ceremony on September 12. In welcoming the students to the Upper School, he spoke of speech acceptable on campus and asked students to distinguish between intent versus impact.

In a sense, the role of education is to develop movers and shakers: people who question their role as ‘citizens’ of the university they attend, and who challenge/reorganize the governing powers to reflect the culture of the student body. College campuses are small, utopian societies– or a bubble– that is governed by its own students and its own school of thought.

Much like any democratic society, college campuses must then be wary of freedom of speech in their respective schools: whose voices are being heard? Who determines whose voices are heard? And what is the role of the administration in protecting freedom of speech?

The University of Chicago Dean of Students John Ellison attempted to tackle these questions in an open letter to the Class of 2020 as they entered their freshman year in the fall of 2016. The letter attempted to counter the growing liberal bubble surrounding college campuses by banning safe spaces and “so-called ‘trigger warnings’”.

“Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” the letter read.

The timing of the letter coincided with the 2016 presidential election and rising racial, political, and social tensions across the nation. Across the US, college students protested controversial speakers scheduled to come on campus, and successfully prevented public figures, like Milo Yiannopoulos, from speaking.

Ironically, the very students who use their freedom of speech to voice their anger and distress are using it to prevent others to air their own opinions.

Colleges, then, are failing to uphold their own purpose: to provide a space for educating and discussing diverse ideologies and identities.

Following last month’s “Unite the Right” rally on the University of Virginia campus, the question of freedom of speech and safe spaces become more significant. While the event was not sponsored by the school, the setting serves as a platform for increased conversation of the role of free speech on college campuses.

More than a week before the rally, Congress partook in a three hour long discussion on free speech on campus. Civil Rights speaker Frederick Lawrence boiled the consensus down to “Hate speech is protected. Hate crime is not.”

He continues by saying, “Constitutionally protected hate speech still causes harm to members of our community. There is a moral imperative, therefore, for campus leaders to vigorously criticize hate speech––not to suppress it, not to prohibit it, but to identify it for what it is and criticize it … University administrators also have First Amendment rights and also get to speak. So in many cases the answer is not to run to the extreme of shutting down an event.”

Freedom of speech and exposure to different ideologies may be the answer to the present political, social, and racial turmoil building up across the US- and a college campus is the ideal place to participate in such conversations. As students continue to or begin exploring their college options, College Counselor Rebecca Hall advised individuals to make educated decisions by exploring the school’s communities and student organizations before making a final decision.

“… Attending school in an area that may have political leanings different than a student’s means that students may need to be more sensitive and thoughtful in their choices of colleges. I imagine that the recent events in Charlottesville may impact some student choices and they may opt to not apply to the University of Virginia,” said Ms. Hall.

“However, if it is a concern for students, in particular for students from marginalized ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds, we encourage students to reach out to college unity groups before making such a decision – resources such as campus Hillels, Black Student Unions, Muslim Student Associations, Latinx Student Alliances, Multicultural Resource Centers – and the students and faculty on each campus can help give more first-hand information about the campus climate.”

Like New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof said in his 2016 article “The Dangers of Echo Chambers on Campus”: “To be fully educated, students should encounter not only Plato, but also Republicans.”