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Recent Protests Revive Free Speech Debate

A student protest at 嘿嘿视频

嘿嘿视频 graduate and postgraduate students organized a Rally in Solidarity to support those affected by the travel ban in February.

Photo: Gregory Urquiaga/嘿嘿视频

A day after Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women took to city streets across the globe to object to some of the new U.S. president鈥檚 most controversial promises. Since then, scientists, immigrant business owners and others have also protested.

Students have organized in large numbers for politically charged demonstrations on both sides of the national debate. At 嘿嘿视频, activists this year have fought against the Dakota Access Pipeline, policies like the immigration order, and for and against a local appearance by controversial former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopolous.

Third-year political science and public service major Joseph Nu帽ez called upon his experiences with activism to help organize an event to examine ways to overcome the divide on campus. 鈥淚 was inspired by the responses that followed the 2016 presidential election results,鈥 said Nu帽ez. 鈥淚t is not popular to be the person or group in the middle attempting to bring people together. Nevertheless, we are compelled to try.鈥

A group gathers for peace in 1972. (Special Collections/嘿嘿视频)

The effort to bridge division while respecting free speech on university campuses isn鈥檛 new. UC Berkeley saw the birth of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s that fought for the right for students to organize political activity on campus. 嘿嘿视频 took its own approach to the movement, as students and staff resolved to transform conflict into a platform for dialogue. Students and faculty collaborated to develop inclusive and ethical practices for free speech on campus with the hope that they would prevent the violence they saw elsewhere.

Given the increasingly polarized nation, at the fall convocation Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter called for a new emphasis on fostering campus inclusion and understanding. The yearlong initiative featured more opportunities for dialogue among the campus community, including workshops and forums. Additional events like teach-ins and February鈥檚 Rally in Solidarity aimed to educate.

University of California President Janet Napolitano also weighed in, encouraging more practices that promote academic debate. 鈥淭he way to deal with extreme, unfounded speech is not with less speech 鈥 it is with more speech, informed by facts and persuasive argument,鈥 said Napolitano in an op-ed published in the Boston Globe last fall. 鈥淲e seek to make the world a better place for the next generation, and teaching the values and responsibilities of free speech is inextricably linked with this goal.鈥

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