Geoffrey R. Stone Interviewed on Turning Down White Nationalist’s Request to Speak on Campus
Professor Turned Down White Nationalist’s Email Request To Speak At University Of Chicago
Melba Lara: You are clearly a strong advocate for free speech on college campuses, including defending Richard Spencer’s right to address students, but why did you say no to appearing jointly with him?
Geoffrey Stone: Well he has no right to come to the University of Chicago or any private institution in order to speak.
The right is that [of] the students or the faculty or the staff to invite speakers who they want to hear to the campus. So when he asked me if I was interested in inviting him, I basically said I was not, that I think the university is dedicated to serious ideas and discussion, and having reviewed his own writings and his own speeches, I said to him that I did not think that his views were sufficiently serious to merit discussion in a university.
And so I thanked him for his inquiry but told him that I was not interested in inviting him myself. But I also said that if students or faculty or staff here wanted to invite him to come and speak, that I would certainly defend their right to have him come and that they should have the right to do so if that’s what they wish for.
Read more at WBEZ