VOA慢速英语--学校面临着保护言论自由的压力

Schools Under Pressure to Protect Free Speech

Colleges begin the new school year under pressure to protect free speech -- even when many students strongly disagree with the speakers’ messages.

Many of the protests in the last school year tried to block conservative and white nationalist speakers. And some colleges that experienced violent protests have announced new efforts to encourage free speech.

Colleges encourage support for free speech

Fifteen leading scholars at three of the nation’s top universities -- Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University -- wrote a letter this week with this advice for new college students: “Think for yourself.”

The letter said that means students should honestly consider arguments, even from people with opinions they find objectionable.

Kansas State University recently announced it will work hard to protect free speech. A statement from the school’s top officials said free speech is “one of our most cherished rights, protected by the United States Constitution.”

At Claremont McKenna College in California and Middlebury College in Vermont, officials promise more speeches by people with different opinions. During the last school year, demonstrators at the schools blocked speeches by conservative speakers.

The two schools punished some protesting students. Claremont McKenna went further than Middlebury by banning five students from campus for up to a year.

At the University of California Berkeley, new Chancellor¹ Carol Christ called for a return to the school’s reputation as the home of the Free Speech Movement.

Free speech must include speeches by people whose opinions “conflict with the values we hold as a community,” Christ said. Those values include acceptance of all people and diversity, she said.

“If you choose to protest, do so peacefully,” she said in a recent message to Berkeley students and teachers. She said the school will not “tolerate violence.”

Just days after Christ asked students and teachers to support free speech, there was another violent protest. It took place in a park near the Berkeley campus during a “free speech” event.

Demonstrators, some with their faces covered in black cloth, attacked at least five people, including the leader of a politically conservative group, the Associated Press reported.

Some of the attackers were from a group called Antifa, short for anti-fascists³. Some Antifa members say that violence is acceptable to fight racism⁴. It was not known if any of the Antifa members were Berkeley students.

Protests against the left

Conservatives and white nationalists are not the only groups whose free speech rights are being questioned.

Mark Bray⁵ is a lecturer at Dartmouth College and considered an expert on Antifa. On NBC’s Meet the Press, he said Antifa supporters believe that Nazis⁶ and other Fascists cannot be stopped with free speech alone. Bray said the Nazis in Germany and other fascist² leaders in Europe before and during World War II were only stopped by violence.

Dartmouth’s President Philip Hanlon said Bray seemed to be saying that violence is acceptable. He said Dartmouth does not accept anything but “civil discourse⁷” in discussing opinions and ideas.

That led 120 Dartmouth teachers to defend Bray. At most colleges, an official whose expertise⁸ is reported on by national news reports is praised, the teachers said in a letter.

Evergreen⁹ State College in the Western state of Washington is another college that experienced conflict during the last school year.

It began when some students moved to change a yearly event that seeks to make the college community aware of racism. In previous years, African-American students and college employees would leave the college for a day to show the loss that takes place when they are not present.

Last spring, the event was changed with white students and white employees asked to leave for a day. Brett Weinstein, a white biology professor, refused. Weinstein said that he and his wife, another Evergreen teacher, were called racists and threatened by some students.

The school was also closed for several days after a threat of violence from an unidentified caller. The threat came after some conservative groups said liberals controlled the college and threatened those with different opinions.

This year, the college says, it will hold a special program for new freshman¹⁰. The school calls the program, “Conversing across Significant Differences." The goal is to help students learn how to peacefully deal with different opinions.

But all is not well. Weinstein recently went to court to charge college officials with permitting his rights to be violated.

Senator Chuck Grassley is a Republican from Iowa and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. At a recent hearing, he said, “Higher education rests on the free flow of ideas.” Grassley added that colleges must do more to “protect free speech.”

I’m Jill Robbins.

And I'm Bruce Alpert.

Words in This Story

cherish - v. to remember or hold an idea or belief in a deeply felt way

reputation - n. the common opinion that people have about someone or something

diversity - n. the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas

tolerate - v. accept

fascist - n. a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government

civil discourse - n. exchanging ideas without anger or threats

converse¹¹ - v. to have a discussion

flow - n. movement

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 fascist   

adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子

参考例句：

• The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。

3 fascists   

n.法西斯主义的支持者( fascist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists. 老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

5 bray   

n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫

参考例句：

• She cut him off with a wild bray of laughter.她用刺耳的狂笑打断了他的讲话。
• The donkey brayed and tried to bolt.这头驴嘶叫着试图脱缰而逃。

6 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

8 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

9 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

10 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

11 converse   

vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反

参考例句：

• He can converse in three languages.他可以用3种语言谈话。
• I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but I think I gave the converse impression.我想显得友好、平易近人些,却发觉给人的印象恰恰相反。