Free Speech
The University of Chicago lovesss to talk. No seriously, you have probably seen it in pamphlets and newsletters: UChicago’s commitment to Free Speech. The University proclaims that, “freedom of expression is a core element of the history and culture of the University” yet we have seen time and time again how those principles are highly selective and result in harm to those most marginalized on campus.
Let’s look back on history, shall we? In 1967, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, the University responded to student protests by issuing the Kalven Report, a statement which declared the University to be a community of diverse opinions that required Freedom of Expression to maintain a diversity of perspectives; furthermore, the report established the University’s institutional neutrality in regard to public issues. These principles are aggressively touted by the administration, even more so in the past couple of years — but do they really believe in them? We can see the University’s true values through some events:
UChicago used the Kalven report to justify horrendous human rights abuses. UChicago refused to divest from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa, in Darfur during the genocide in that region, and in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza This is all in an attempt to “stay neutral”, yet an attempt to stay politically neutral is still a political act in itself; refusing to divest, no matter how small the investment, still provides tacit financial backing to these regin apartheid South Africaimes.
During the summer of 2020, #CareNotCops staged a sit-in at UCPD Headquarters demanding the defunding of UCPD. When students got to the site, UCPD cut them off from any outside food or resources, forcing the students to choose between either food & water or continuing the demonstration. In the days that followed, the administration offered to meet with students but rejected CNC’s demand for a transparent, public meeting via live stream. When it comes to the discussions that threaten their power, the administration abandons the University’s so-called commitment to “Free Speech”; instead of protection, these students were met with discipline and harm.
More recently, during the 2022 Alumni Weekend, South Side community organizers and U of C student organizers disrupted Paul Alivisatos’s speech by protesting the event and demanding reparations from the university. Instead of engaging with and listening to these students and community members exercise their free expression, the University called in the UCPD, locked the doors to the building, and physically blocked the participants from the event.
Like, you know what’s GROSS? The hypocrisy and discrepancies of Free Speech policies at this school. Matter of fact, you know what’s UGLY? That they will invite racist, zionist, Covid deniers to speak at graduation events, and protect professors who actively spread misinformation about DEI. Yet, they will deny safe spaces, disregard hate speech, and ignore professors/students being doxxed and threatened online all in the name of “University Neutrality”. No fr, you know what’s NOT HOT? That the administration will stand by its inconsistent interpretation of the Free Speech principles only when it is advantageous for them. UChicago’s purported devotion to free speech gives platforms to those who need it least: the rich, white, and the politically powerful. So let this Burn Book prompt you: whose speech is really being protected, and who is not being given the chance to speak?
