Northwestern University—like many universities around the country—recently banned consensual relations between faculty and students.
In response to this decision, Northwestern Professor Laura Kipnis wrote an ironic essay highlighting all the professors married to former students on the campus and at other campuses around the country.
In the Learn Liberty video below, Professor Kipnis discusses the backlash she received in response to the essay. Thanks to complaints by graduate students, Northwestern even put her under a Title IX investigation (in which she was subsequently cleared). Ironically, this controversy caused more people to read the essay than would have otherwise.
Kipnis, who is tenured, highlights how such protests could threaten the job security of non-tenured professors, providing them with a strong incentive to avoid saying anything controversial.
Given that tenure is increasingly rare, this climate has led to a chilling of free speech on campus because professors often refuse to put forth controversial arguments for fear of losing their jobs.
This limitation of speech shrinks the educational value of the college experience, which should be based on the free exchange of ideas.
To watch Kipnis’ interview on the subject, please click on the button below.
This article was previously published on the Learn Liberty blog.
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.
