360° Video: Free Speech Class - full discussion

Описание: A UC Berkeley class discussion on free speech in Prof. Alan Pomerantz's legal studies seminar
Full Story: https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/12/13/...

“We all have firmly held beliefs,” he says. “A lot of people are so embedded into their ideas that they think anyone who doesn’t agree with them is nuts, crazy, bigoted, prejudiced… and it’s not necessarily true. Some people are, but not everyone.”

Today, the class of about two dozen students is discussing college speech codes — which speech should be protected or prohibited at public universities, and who gets to decide which speakers can speak on campus.

To start off the class, Pomerantz reads the Urban Dictionary’s definition of “snowflake.” The term was used to insult UC Berkeley’s students, faculty and administration after alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos arrived to speak on campus in February but was driven out when a protest turned violent. Backlash from conservatives and heated discussion nationally has spurred Chancellor Carol Christ to dedicate the academic year to free speech, and the campus is holding a series of panels, lectures and other events to affirm its dedication to upholding free speech as a constitutional right and a Berkeley value.

Pomerantz reads: “A snowflake is a hypersensitive, irrational person who can’t stand to have his or her worldviews challenged, or be offended in any perceived or even slightest of ways…” The definition goes on, but that’s the gist.

And with that, he starts the conversation. “My question for you is: Are you a snowflake? Let’s start with Olivia. Are you a snowflake?”

“No.”

“Why not? You think Milo should have been allowed to speak?”

“Yes.”

“You do. And what should the school have done with regard to the protest against him that cost the school $100,000 in damage? You realize the $100,000 the school spent eventually comes out of your pockets because it’s going to result in an increase in the cost of your tuition. So are you prepared to spend that money so that Milo gets to speak?”

“Yes,” answers Olivia.

“Because?”

“I definitely think you need to protect the speaker by containing the crowd, making sure it doesn’t get violent,” she says. “I think that no matter what he’s saying, he has a right to say it.”

Pomerantz, who has been practicing corporate law for 30 years, doesn’t take yes or no for an answer. He presents counterargument after counterargument, each scenario forcing students to dig deeper into why they think what they do, chipping away at their resolve. His goal, he says, is to find a crack in their argument that will lead to a shift in perspective where they say, “I’d never thought of that.” (...continued)
Full Story: https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/12/13/...

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally

http://news.berkeley.edu/
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