Democracy and Free Speech on Campus

In recent months, protests at US colleges and universities-replete with sit-ins, anti-war slogans, tent villages, and arrests of students-have inspired comparisons with 1960sera activism. 1During that convulsive period, students responded to the Vietnam War by turning their campuses into sites for civil disobedience and forums for free speech.In response, politicians like Ronald Reagan decried the permissiveness of college and university leaders and denounced student agitators. 2 Those who went to college in the 1960s see obvious parallels between past and present. 3The summoning of police to disperse protestors has polarized the public and raised questions about the limits of democracy. 4Student activism has renewed disagreement over the meaning of higher education.And conflicts over free speech have spilled far beyond campus, with congressional hearings effectively ending the careers of several college presidents. 5 Such conflicts and uncertainties are clearest in times of upheaval.Yet they are always lurking beneath the surface in higher education.What does it mean to live in