When it comes to free speech, opposites may not attract. But respectful conflict and debate make for better education in colleges and universities, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said in a hearing Oct. 26.
A handful of witnesses joined Alexander, chairman of the Senate education committee. Among them were Richard Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago; Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union; and Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Liberal opinions were once shunned on campuses, said Alexander, referencing a time when left-leaning professors and speakers were often denounced and ridiculed.
“When I was a student in the 1960s at Vanderbilt University, the John Birch Society wanted my political science professor fired. They said he was a communist because he thought World War I was a mistake.”
The pendulum has swung the other way, Alexander said.
A 2014 survey from the University of California found the ratio of liberal to conservative college professors at 6-to-1. In New England, the ratio jumped to 28-to-1.
“There is the question of political one-sidedness, that there is a pervasive point of view on many college campuses,” Alexander said.
Alexander, a former Harvard University professor and U.S. secretary of education, used to tell his students they got the best education because liberal students could be guilty of lazy thinking because they agreed with their professors, and conservative students learned to stay on their toes.
For that reason, he said, universities should welcome diverging viewpoints and protect speech — no matter which side is talking.
“There should be some sensible way to allow that while still protecting freedoms offered by the First Amendment.”
Earlier this year, Tennessee passed the Campus Free Speech Protection Act, a bill to safeguard First Amendment rights at public universities.
North Carolina passed a similar bill in June.
Watch Alexander give his opening statement to the committee here.