Book Bans Just Part of Issue | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Book Bans Just Part of Issue | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The real issue isn't protecting books from those who would banish them for eternity. It is that public institutions select books in the first place. The instant such a selection is made freedom is already compromised."

"it is, indeed, a fundamental threat to liberty when a government entity — either a school district or public library — decides what is or is not "acceptable" content.

The problem is, the school or library makes just such a discriminatory determination when it decides which books to buy, or to make required reading, in the first place."

"it compels taxpayers to support speech that, often, they find abhorrent"

Colleges Keep Suppressing Free Speech | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Colleges Keep Suppressing Free Speech | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "“Among the college seniors in the survey sample, only 30.3 percent answered that they strongly agreed that ‘it is safe to hold unpopular views on campus.’”"

" “Even more alarmingly, the study showed that students’ sense of the safety of expressing unpopular views steadily declines from freshman year (starting at 40.3 percent) to senior year... But the students were downright optimistic compared to the 9,000 ‘campus professionals’ surveyed, including faculty, student affairs personnel, and academic administrators. Only 18.8 percent strongly agreed it was safe to have unpopular views on campus.

“Faculty members, who are often the longest-serving members of the college community and presumably know it best,” adds Lukianoff, “scored the lowest of any group — a miserable 16.7 percent!” "