Censorship in Academia

The conservative reader I wrote about here responded to my earlier post:  The Democrats are destroying presenting two sides in academia, by banning conservative speakers.

Well, first, as I mentioned, there is a difference between “conservative” opinions and language that is intended to incite sedition and violence, and fan the flames of racial hatred.  But in the case of academia, it’s even more cut and dried. Let me create an example:

If I believe the Holocaust never happened, I’m entitled, at least in the U.S., to express that. If I happen to be in Hartford, Connecticut, I can stand out on a street corner with signs, banners, a megaphone, whatever I choose.

But suppose I want the history department at (my Hartford-located alma mater) Trinity College (pictured) to sponsor me to come on campus to make a talk.  Rightfully, they’d laugh in my face.  Is this censorship, or is it the right of an academic institution to reject utter crap from being disseminated under its aegis?

The physics department would have an identical response to a Flat Earther’s request to make a lecture expressing its absurd beliefs.

It’s really not about politics, but rather an institution’s right to make good on its pledge to demand academic rigor in everything with which it’s associated, and to protect its students from provably false ideas.  It’s actually what parents of these young people pay their tuition for, when you think about it. It’s a contract that reads, “I give you $60K per year, and you do your best to educate my child with the truth, and keep him away from complete garbage.”