TIME

One campus arena where free speech is not up for debate: law schools

Students at Middlebury College shouted down Charles Murray rather than listen to his controversial ideas when he came to speak at their campus in March

IN THIS, THE SUMMER OF OUR discontent, many college presidents are breathing a sigh of relief that they made it through a politically fraught spring without their campuses erupting. Nobody wants to be the next Middlebury or Claremont McKenna, where demonstrations disrupted controversial speakers.

Law deans, in sharp contrast, have reason to be cheery. Their campuses have been largely exempt from ugly free-speech incidents like

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from TIME

TIME6 min read
The Fog Of War
When the author Viet Thanh Nguyen was growing up in California as a refugee from the Vietnam War, depictions of that conflict were omnipresent in American culture. Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and many other films portrayed American he
TIME4 min read
Nemonte Nenquimo
Someone recently asked me why it was important to protect the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling. The question made me angry. Can you imagine being questioned about the importance of protecting your home from being destroyed in a fire? Or about prot
TIME1 min readCrime & Violence
A Gang Crisis In Haiti
A police officer guards the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince on March 14, 12 days after gang members stormed the country’s two largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. Gangs were implicated in the 2021 assassination of the last elec

Related Books & Audiobooks