WSJ Letter: “What If the Students Want Speech to Be Compelled?”

On January 24, 2023, the Wall Street Journal published a letter from Buckley Program founder and executive director Lauren Noble raising the alarm about college student support for compelled speech and weak opposition on campus to speech codes.

Noble’s letter responded to an op-ed from Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo and Ilya Shapiro outlining legislation to cut back on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy and stop mandatory DEI statements at public colleges and universities.
Noble noted:

If we don’t explain to students why compelled speech is problematic, it will only be a matter of time before they graduate and begin clamoring for even more oppressive speech codes than what we see today.

Read the full letter here.