The College Fix

Northwestern University is finally saying what it thinks about the tensions between free expression and harassment.

It’s largely stayed silent institutionally while its Title IX apparatus figured out whether Prof. Laura Kipnis was guilty of creating a “chilling effect” against victims reporting their sexual assaults – by writing an essay decrying the “sexual paranoia” on American campuses, including a case at Northwestern. (Her faculty advocate got hit with a Title IX complaint too, for simply talking about the accusations against her, though it was dropped.)

Now Northwestern has spoken in response to the Kipnis case, though it’s not clear it’s saying anything.

In a statement Wednesday by President Morton Schapiro and Provost Daniel Linzer, the officials said the school is “firmly committed to free expression and academic freedom” and “equally committed to” creating a “harassment-free environment,” using the bludgeon of Title IX:

We firmly believe that these two legitimate interests can coexist, and indeed do at Northwestern. Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against members of the Northwestern community are not protected expression or the proper exercise of academic freedom. Equally, the offensiveness of a particular view, standing alone, is not a sufficient basis to establish a Title IX claim. Free expression, no matter how repugnant or offensive, must be protected and should be countered only with more speech and close examination, not censorship.

They “encourage such debate” about a recent unnamed “controversy” (Kipnis):

But we ask that members of the Northwestern community be mindful of the privacy of others and help maintain a campus climate that fosters mutual respect and healthy discourse, while protecting the interests of those who take advantage of the rights afforded to them under the law.

As you can see for yourself, this non-statement really answers no questions about whether the school will stand up for the right of faculty or students to express themselves on a newsworthy subject (that’s all Kipnis did), or whether it will determine that anything that offends a particular class (like alleged rape victims) will constitute “harassment” or violate “the privacy of others” (even if those others remain unnamed).

It’s not enough that Kipnis was cleared in the investigation – the investigation itself created a “chilling effect” on other faculty who are suddenly realizing their tenure may not be of much use.

Read the statement.

h/t Peter Bonilla

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IMAGE: Laura Kipnis/Twitter