At UChicago, a Debate Over Free Speech and Cyber Bullying
But such a move — which he does not recommend — would run afoul of the First Amendment if the university were public, and would bring its own complications, he said.
“It’s very hard for either law or institutions to monitor those sorts of things,” he said. “Your administrators may be biased in terms of who they go after, and who they don’t go after.”
And while a strong case could be made that Mr. Schmidt’s intent was to intimidate, Professor Stone said, “Do you really want to get into the business of trying to figure out what the purpose was?”
That explanation can be unsatisfying for students wanting a solution. Watson Lubin, a senior in Dr. Journey’s class, said that he chose the university in part because of its reputation for academic freedom. But over his four years, he said, he has soured on the free-expression rhetoric.
“I’m worried that Daniel Schmidt actually formed something of a precedent here,” he said, “where you can, under the auspices of free speech, more or less intimidate and harass a professor, and sic your incredible following on TikTok and Twitter on them for the purpose of chilling speech.”
Source: The New York Times
