University of Denver Fall 2023

Would DU need to approve a controversial speaker on campus? No, that was one of the things we were really careful to make sure wasn’t the case. There is no approval process. I think a lot of people at first thought that’s what the policy would be. The committee was like, no, let’s make up prin ciples that we hope are respected. This was more like: These events can become conten tious. If you want it to be the best event possible—that is, people hearing the message of the person you’re inviting and, at the same time, full opportunities for other people to express their opinion about the speech—then there are ways to do that where everyone’s freedom of expression is respected, and everyone is safe. I think they’re learning that a university is a unique environment that is centered on free inquiry and critical discussion, and that it is not designed to be like every other environment. It’s not the public square. It’s not the mall. It’s not even the congressional debate chamber. A university is unique, and it has certain cardinal values—the pursuit of truth, the idea that one should be open enough to risk discomfort in the service of learning and becoming a better person. How does this policy benefit students? What are they learning?

The second lesson is that it’s always worth it to try to talk it out, because most people don’t have the extreme views that may be ascribed to others. You may vote for a certain presidential candidate, but you are not that presidential candidate. You’re a much more complex person who could be appealed to. So, you just don’t assume a person is an idea. You treat them as a person, and when you do that, you don’t have to see them as enemies. And third, it teaches that as much as you would like certain ideas just to go away and be changed, that can only happen through a process of dialogue, debate and persuasion. None of us really want a completely coercive state or administration to decide for us what we say and what we hear. We really want to be able to make those decisions ourselves.

FALL 2023 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 15

Photo by Wayne Armstrong