DENVER – Metropolitan State University of Denver leaders looked at the recurring flare-ups on the nation’s college campuses – where controversial tweets and email, chat room screen shots and student spats explode into storms — and have set a new policy declaring free expression “indispensable” to fulfilling their educational mission.
They’re joining a handful of campuses where back to school this month means navigating minefields of potentially offensive ideas under free speech initiatives designed to combat “groupthink” and spur dialogue across differences.
Metro’s new approach won’t coddle marginalized groups by designating official separate forums (informal “safe spaces” aren’t prohibited), school officials say. It follows the law on allowing hate speech and doesn’t confine protest to “free speech zones,” which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled illegal. It also encourages respect, treating an attack on one as an attack on all – but without a threat of punishment for saying something hurtful.
