UC Berkeley Faculty Panel on Free Speech

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00:00 - UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ Introduction

03:09 - Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, BerkeleyLaw discusses the 1st amendment, and the Supreme Court's decisions regarding protected and unprotected speech

10:23 - David Landreth, Associate Professor of English, discusses his earlier request (with other professors) that the Chancellor not allow Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on campus

18:29 - Steven Hayward, visiting scholar with the Institute of Governmental Studies, discusses how the public opinion about the importance of free speech and democracy has changed, and the polarization of society

28:10 - Arlie Hochschild, professor emerita of sociology and author of "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right" discusses retrieving the Berkeley culture of free speech, sharing of diverse opinions and expression

36:40 - john a. powell, professor of law, African American studies and ethnic studies and director of the Institute of a Fair and Inclusive Society, discusses the problem of white supremacy continuing to pull the country apart

48:00 - Panelists discuss the difference between physical harm and emotional harm relating to free speech

1:00:25 - Chancellor Christ asks panelists how to consider the problem of the cost for allowing speakers to speak and insuring safety.

1:12:00 - Questions

[irmnky]

The elephant in the room is that no one LISTENS.

I was interested in hearing questions from the audience, but each person stood up and gave a seemingly pre-scripted speech just to hear themselves talk. Clearly, no one was concerned about their own speech being suppressed. They were concerned about how to shut down, drown out or otherwise deal with someone else's speech they don't like.

As an institution of higher learning, I would expect a greater focus on listening, understanding, evaluating and responding intelligently.

[kleptomaniagta]

Just the title made burst into laughter!!!

[oldbaldone]

they should just say they don't support free speech.

[FedUpAmerican]

I'm 3 minutes in and I feel like this is preschool bullshit. Free speech is free speech. Don't incite violence, or yell fire in a movie theatre, etc.. period. There, 2 hours in 2 sentences.

[wickedpsyched]

the students that are protesting at Berkeley aren't shutting down offensive speech, they are shutting down legitimate opinions that differ from their own.

[TiberiusMaximus]

This was one big echo chamber, not one dissenting opinion, how are they going to learn anything?

[changingworld]

The most thought provoking moment here was when the one panelist reminded people that student groups in the 60's used to invite Nazis to campus so that they could sharpen their verbal swords and stab giant holes in their logic. It was sport for these free thinking intellectuals. If today's campus leftists truly felt empowered by their logic and reasoning skills, speakers who held different views would not threaten them and would in fact, excite them. They would be thrilled to engage these speakers and cut them down with cool logic and brilliance. The truth is that schools have not armed the campus leftists with anything more than identity politics, group- think, and feelings to support their arguments, and the Q and A sessions with speakers like Shapiro leave them shaken to the core. They are psychologically injured because they don't have logical tools to debate these speakers. They don't have evidence to back up their arguments. They just have feelings, and Shapiro runs them through with butter knives.

[cognitiveinstinct]

Free speech isn't complicated Carol... you just let people express themselves. It doesn't matter what they are expressing, they have the right to express it. That is free speech.

[russelld]

It is truly frightening that this is even a debate at a university in 2017. To the points of the black professor...if he finds speech so painful The solution is to not listen, it is not to silence. This is such an easy issue.

[Flinx]

Trust the only Black man on the panel to bring the false Michael Brown narrative into the debate.

[Jessica-zybp]

UC Berkeley panel on Free Speech is an oxymoron.

[ronny]

They are smiling but their smiles are full of lies

[TheBushman]

Wow, several of these people are severly confused about this. If an idea is truly, truly harmful and offensive, then the way to counter that idea is through better ideas. No things are "closed". No things are "off the table". Because if we have such a praxis, then it will with absolute certainity one day be used to make critiscism of the dear leader, or the preachings of the church or one specific dogmatic scientific view "closed" or "off the table". By removing the right to critisize the movement to which you belong today, you are loading the gun for your own head for tomorrow.

[juggy]

Also last speaker John.thingy, is a social justice nightmare. Omg with his 'speech is violence'. What a load of crap. He is encouraging the mantle of victimhood. We need Thomas Sowell.

[MustPassTruck]

The way these people try to rationalize removing freedoms and encouraging violence for thought crimes is scarey.

[wickedpsyched]

why don't they attend the speech and protest specific things within that speech the next day if they disagree?

[Chretze]

"Free speech is a very complex issue", it's actually not. EVERYONE must be allowed to SAY ANYTHING they want without facing legal consequences, period.

[chamboyette]

The comments here are being too harsh. Berkely is a place which not only is an ardent defender of free speech, it actually encourages it : of course on the condition that such speech doesn't offend people who hold the school's values.

[bryguygolf]

"The best response to the speech we don't like is more speech" not violence, not fires and broken windows, not banning speeches simply because others may use violence to silence them. Let those in opposition pose their ideas freely and let those "offensive" speakers be allowed to speak.

[athrunzala]

Question at 1:34 called it a "circus"
It's only going to be a circus for a week because people like her have made it one.