Articles by both NAS president Peter Wood and board member Thomas D. Klingenstein will will appear in a couple of weeks in the summer 2015 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.
Mr. Klingenstein's article calls for university trustees to create sub-committees, modeled after board audit committees, to evaluate the degree to which free speech is upheld at their institutions. Peter Wood's article, "Forgetting Freedom," reflects on the loss of intellectual freedom on college campuses, especially as seen in speaker dis-invitations and "no-platforming." Here is an excerpt from his essay:
The American college campus has become one of the least open, least free places in the nation—and with respect to many subjects, not just a few. Genuine debate about abortion, affirmative action, feminism, gay marriage, global warming, gun rights, hate crimes, illegal immigration, Islam, Israel, racism, sexual assault, and transgender identity has been rendered difficult, if not impossible. And we are awash in new euphemisms for censorship: trigger warnings, safe spaces, free speech zones, fill-in-the-blank-phobic slurs, micro-aggressions, and verbal “violence.”
To read the full articles when they come out, subscribe to the Claremont Review of Books. The journal publishes thoughtful and scholarly commentary on culture, history, and literature; and the Claremont Institute is an important ally to NAS in cultivating fresh perspectives on ideas of enduring value.
Image: Claremont Review of Books
