For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America's
colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about
living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for
freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff
reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical
thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging
ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an
unscholarly certainty about complex issues.
Lukianoff walks readers through the life of a modern-day college
student, from orientation to the end of freshman year. Through this
lens, he describes startling violations of free speech rights: a student
in Indiana punished for publicly reading a book, a student in Georgia
expelled for a pro-environment collage he posted on Facebook, students
at Yale banned from putting an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on a T shirt,
and students across the country corralled into tiny "free speech zones"
when they wanted to express their views.
But Lukianoff goes further, demonstrating how this culture of censorship
is bleeding into the larger society. As he explores public controversies
involving Juan Williams, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins,
Larry Summers--even Dave Barry and Jon Stewart--Lukianoff paints a stark
picture of our ability as a nation to discuss important issues
rationally. Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of
American Debate illuminates how intolerance for dissent and debate on
today's campus threatens the freedom of every citizen and makes us all
just a little bit dumber.
