Free Speech Rhetoric and Normalizing Violence: Setting Higher Standards for University Guest Speaker Policies

Authors

  • Madison McDonald McMaster University

Abstract

In response to recent protests against controversial guest speakers, many Canadian universities have implemented new policies that conflate academic freedom and freedom of speech. The resultant free speech policies often protect speakers regardless of the content of their speech; this paper discusses the importance of barring speech that normalizes acts of harm.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Madison McDonald, McMaster University

Madison McDonald is a recent graduate of McMaster University’s Gender Studies and Feminist Research M.A. program. Her recent research focuses on anti-feminist women and their unique relationship to far-right politics.

Downloads

Published

2020-10-29

Issue

Vol. 41 No. 1 (2020): "Speaking Freely and Freedom of Speech" & "Transnational Feminism"

Section

Special Section: Speaking Freely and Freedom of Speech

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Authors are aware that articles published in Atlantis are indexed and made available through various scholarly and professional search tools, including but not limited to Erudit.

3. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

4. Authors are permitted and encouraged to preprint their work, that is, post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process. This can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Read more on preprints here.