FIRE Recognizes WLU Advancing Free Speech
FIRE Recognizes W&L Advancing Free Speech
Defense of speaker rights results in high ranking
[The President (Henry Haden) and Vice President (Hayley Andrews) of College Republicans at Washington & Lee University Introducing Matt Walsh. SOURCE: The Spectator]
“W&L adopted the Chicago Statement affirming freedom of expression in December 2015, but until W&L defends student expression, its promises are worthless.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) issued the above statement following the university’s September 2021 censure of W&L College Republicans for displaying campaign materials supporting then-gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin. National news organizations subsequently reported W&L’s disturbing suppression of political speech, prompting the university to change their policy and once again allow student organizations to campaign.
FIRE tracks and reports free speech conditions on college campuses across the country. In 2022, FIRE ranked W&L 70th for free speech among colleges, an “average” ranking leaving significant room for improvement.
To offer a counterpoint to the status quo and the lackluster free speech assessment by FIRE, College Republicans and The Spectator, both with a vested interest in free speech, decided to host a speaker willing to challenge “unassailable” ideology rooted in critical theory, in particular queer theory.
(See The Spectator’s summer interview with James Lindsay for more on critical theory.)
The speech would prove that diversity of thought is embraced at Washington & Lee University and that conservative students, like progressive students, can find speakers who equip them to defend their views without fear of reprisal.
In this spirit, The Spectator and College Republicans invited Matt Walsh.
As a significant contingent of students and professors sought to bar Walsh from speaking, Washington & Lee University prudently reiterated its commitment to free speech principles, a pivotal rebuttal to FIRE’s 2021 assessment of W&L.
In the latter half of 2023, FIRE released its 2024 free speech rankings, placing Washington & Lee within the top twenty colleges nationally, an “above average” ranking.
Scrolling through their reasoning, one factor is distinct: as recorded in FIRE’s Campus Disinvitation database, the number of times between 2020 to 2023 that the school administration defended a speaker’s speech rights during a campus disinvitation attempt: 1 (Matt Walsh)
On the subject of FIRE, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s Dr. Steven McGuire shared on X that on FIRE’s Campus Disinvitation Database (which features a list of speakers whom groups on college campuses attempted to disinvite) in the year 2023, 26 out of 27 recorded attempts at disinviting speakers were instances of speakers being targeted by the left.
This list of targeted speakers includes Matt Walsh’s W&L visit. Fortunately, it serves as an example of when a university ultimately defended free speech.
While much progress has been made in the fight for free speech on campus, there is still work to be done to curb compelled speech, speech that is made out of fear of intimidation or threats.
In one such instance, Spectator writer Dominic Vogelbacher reported in December 2023 that freshmen were told by university representatives that they could under no circumstances miss mandatory “continuing education” sessions titled “Continuing Education: Diversity, Inclusion and Community.”
Vogelbacher reported that “facilitators introduced themselves with their pronouns, per university guidelines.” As presenters “asked students to volunteer to read portions of the slides, one facilitator forced a student to read after no one had volunteered.”
After the student declined, the presenter reprimanded the student saying, “I’m going to make you.” Evidently, these continuing “education” sessions give little room for difference in thought.
In 2022, similar conditions were present when athletes were mandated to partake in “required” training, learning about the intersection of gender theory and athletics. As The Ring Tum Phi then reported, “Many student-athletes expressed in surveys and discussions that they did not want to keep doing trainings.”
While many will reluctantly attend Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, young students — particularly freshmen —-cannot reasonably be expected to confront facilitators who maintain a clear power imbalance. In the struggle to force feed a worldview, they are often liable to create an atmosphere of compelled speech. After all, collegiate DEI training places the onus on attendees to either comply or defend differing worldviews against well-equipped and experienced older facilitators.
Fundamentally, these programs are designed to reeducate attendees, providing the background necessary to defend and explain ideas rooted in critical theory and mold revolutionaries to remake society through a Marxist lens.
To resolve this predicament, W&L must continue working to uphold the classically liberal values at the center of a liberal arts education, namely political freedom and freedom of speech. Only with these values fostering civil and open discourse can the best ideas emerge victorious.
[The opinions expressed in this magazine are the author's own and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Spectator, or any students or other contributors associated with the magazine. It is the intention of The Spectator to promote student thought and civil discourse, and it is our hope to maintain that civility in all discussions.]
