There is no organization that’s done more to fight for freedom of speech on American campuses over the past 20 years than FIRE, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. If you care deeply about the First Amendment and a robust culture of free speech, FIRE is the kind of organization you hope will go out of business.
Unfortunately, as our friend Andrew Sullivan has perfectly put it, we all live on campus now.
As the culture of campus has become the culture of the country—one in which ideological conformity is enforced by mobs that wield the weapons of shame and stigma—it should not come as a surprise that 62% of Americans say they hold views they are afraid to share in public.
All of which is why FIRE is radically expanding its scope and its ambition. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is now The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. And the organization has announced a goal of $75 million in order to pick up the flag the ACLU has put down by becoming the premier civil liberties organization in America.
Today: a conversation with the president and CEO of FIRE, Greg Lukianoff. Lukianoff is also the author of “Unlearning Liberty” and the co-author, with Jonathan Haidt, of “The Coddling of the American Mind.”
I have only personal observation, but no data to support my hypothesis. I feel like during the early 2000’s we passed a critical mass in a change in child care that had been building since the 1980’s.
More and more college bound children were raised from birth through college age with no extensive time playing with other children WITHOUT adult supervision. Virtually all of their waking time was spent under adult supervision in day care, pre-K, kindergarten, school, and adult organized and supervised activities, play dates, etc. Other than some inner-city basketball courts, the places for unsupervised child interaction have almost ceased exist. For every two or three children playing in a park or playground there is one adult watching. At the slightest hint of conflict or risk of even the slightest physical harm or emotional trauma, the adults swoop in to intervene.
Accordingly, at some point, we reached a critical mass of college enrollees who, while they feel the natural adolescent impulse for independence, also feel the need to remain in the water in which they have swum their entire lives—someone in authority watching over and protecting them from any risk of physical harm or emotional upset.
It is little wonder that they rebel if they feel those in authority (be that those who run the university or those who run the company) are not so protecting them physical and emotional danger. And they express their frustration as toddlers would by shouting and even lashing out physically because they never learned self-protection and conflict resolution in the rough and tumble of free play among children.
Oh Mr. Lukianoff... and I disagree with you regarding IHRA definition of anti-semitism: "I hate The Church but I have no problem with Catholics." That is a contradiction. Judaism is defined by its connection to Israel precisely as Catholicism is defined by its connection to the Vatican and the Pope and The Church in general. That lousy Pope and that crooked Vatican, well that is one thing but I think my acquaintances who go to Mass on Sunday are just dandy people; so I am not anti-Catholic at all. See? Many reasonable Jewish people are critical of Israel in innumerable ways, just like many reasonable Catholics are critical of the Vatican. If you hate the Church however, you hate the core of every Catholic, precisely the way anti-Zionism is hating the core of every Jew. I hope you and FIRE see your way to embrace the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. Oh, I detest your mom too, but you seem OK. Would you buy that? (I am certain I would like your mom however, because I like the way you think. Israel is my mother.)