May 11, 2016 – Students For Liberty

This article was previously published on the Learn Liberty blog.

In a recent commencement address at the University of Michigan, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was booed after criticizing campus safe spaces.

As Yahoo News reported:

“The whole purpose of college is to learn how to deal with difficult situations — not run away from them,” Bloomberg told the school’s graduating class. “One of the most dangerous places on a college campus is a safe space because it creates the false impression that we can insulate ourselves from those who hold different views.

Bloomberg is hardly radical in his views, despite the unfavorable reception his comments received at the University of Michigan. There has been a growing concern for freedom of speech on campus from people of all political perspectives and walks of life, from Michael Bloomberg and Barack Obama, to John Cleese, to the team making Learn Liberty videos.

Encountering new, controversial, and even offensive ideas is critical to learning and discovery. That’s why freedom of speech in colleges is so essential.

For more on the importance of freedom of speech at universities, listen to Professor Donald Downs as he defends academic freedom in the video below.

For further reading on the theme of freedom of expression, be sure to check out our pillar page by clicking on the button below.

Edited by Russell Coates

This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.

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