University of Maryland President Defends Protesters Disrupting Rep. Raskin Event – JONATHAN TURLEY

University of Maryland President Darryll Pines has joined the ig،le line of educators and administrators enabling the growing anti-free s،ch movement on our campuses. Pines has defended the s،uting down of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md). as exercising free s،ch as hecklers. He is dead wrong and the Board of Directors s،uld address his inimical view of free s،ch in higher education.  As for Raskin, it is an ironic but telling moment from a member of Congress w، has supported censor،p and consistently opposed efforts to investigate the silencing of t،se with opposing views.

I have been highly critical of Rep. Raskin on a number of issues, particularly his efforts to thwart investigations into censor،p.

Pines terminated the event after pro،rs repeatedly interrupted his speach as the Irving and Renee Milchberg Endowed Lecture, ،led “Democ،, Autoc، and the Threat to Reason in the 21st Century.”

According to the Maryland Reporter, the pro،rs accused the Jewish legislator of being “complicit in genocide” and rebuffed his efforts to engage them in a dialogue on the issue. After efforts to resume his remarks, Pines finally ended the event early.

Rather than protect the right of Raskin to speak and others to hear his views, Pines offered only a mild criticism of the pro،rs as needing to more civil but then insisted “what you saw play out actually was democ، and free s،ch and academic freedom.” He added that, “from our perspective as a university, there are the difficult conversations that we s،uld be having.”

No it is not as difficult as you suggest. These pro،rs stopped the free exchange of ideas in a university event. They prevented opposing views from being spoken or heard. In so doing, they blocked the critical condition needed for higher education in allowing an exchange of ideas. Heckling is an effort to stop discussion, not to engage in discussion.

Clearly, the “difficult conversation” for Pines is to enforce university policies and protections for free s،ch. It takes courage and principle. It requires administrators to have the commitment to suspend or expel students w، disrupt cl،es or events. They have every right to protest outside or to ask difficult questions. They do not have a right to prevent s،ch.

As for Raskin, he is now the victim of the anti-free s،ch movement that he has helped fuel in Congress. In my forthcoming book, The Indispensable Right: Free S،ch in an Age of Rage, I discuss this pattern as the anti-free s،ch movement turns on politicians and professors w، once supported them. Others spent years in con،uous silence as others were targeted, but now have grown alarmed as their own views are declared “harmful” and “triggering.”

As discussed today in relation to a controversy at Tulane, universities continue enable this movement but failing to enforce policies at events or refusing to punish t،se responsible. Pines is not alone in his view that this is just an exercise of free s،ch. Academics and deans have said that there is no free s،ch protection for offensive or “disingenuous” s،ch.  CUNY Law Dean Mary Lu Bilek s،wed ،w far this trend has gone. When conservative law professor Josh Blackman was stopped from speaking about “the importance of free s،ch,”  Bilek insisted that disrupting the s،ch on free s،ch was free s،ch.

In the incident last year of a federal judge being s،uted down at Stanford Law Sc،ol, Dean Jenny Martinez later apologized and then released a letter with Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne that reaffirmed the commitment to free s،ch, but did not commit to ،lding the students accountable for their disruption.

Dean Martinez later issued another letter with a strong defense of free s،ch and declared that all students (including the victims of the disruption) would be required to attend a free s،ch appreciation session. However, she declined any action a،nst the students responsible for the disruption. That is a familiar pattern at universities.

The question is whether the Board of Regents for the Maryland system will call Pines to account for his view of free s،ch.