Freedom of speech at American universities is falling prey to doublespeak

livemint.com:

The opening sentence of the federal court opinion was like none other: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." US district court Judge Mark Walker quoted the first line of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, as he struck down parts of the Florida law that prohibited colleges from teaching eight topics related to race. The state’s “argument is like the thirteenth chime of a clock: you not only know it’s wrong, but it causes you to wonder about everything you heard before," Walker explained in the notes of his 2022 decision.

He concluded that Florida’s passage of its Individual Freedom Act allowed professors to “enjoy ‘academic freedom’ so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves." Walker proclaimed the law “positively dystopian" and declared it Orwellian “doublespeak." But, as Florida goes, so goes the nation. When three university presidents were asked by a US congressional committee whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate their varsity codes of conduct, their vague and inadequate answers essentially told us that bigotry on campus is unacceptable but punishment is selective.

Demographics are changing with more minority and LGBTQ+ students enrolling in higher education. Campuses that encourage collaborative learning among students of diverse backgrounds find their students are more likely to engage, innovate and open their minds.

To make their learning environments more inclusive, many schools decided to adopt rules eliminating toxic hate speech. But there is growing perception that overzealous administrators often use these rules as tools to exert their power over faculty or promote a political agenda.