Promoting academic freedom in the classroom is a responsibility for both the presiding professor and the participating students. If the professor stifles students' speech to spout an agenda, then students' academic freedoms are at risk. The same holds true for students-if one student's discourse threatens the speech of other students or the professor, then the classroom environment is harmed.
When UW-Madison senior Joe McWilliams was called out by his peers, his professor and the Dean of Students Office for offensive behavior in the classroom, a Pandora's Box of issues such as academic freedom, acceptable use of the classroom and UW-Madison's discipline policy was opened.
This is not a matter of conservative versus liberal opinions. It is a matter of students' right to participate respectfully in class discussion and the professors' right to teach the course in the manner they see fit.
It is also not a matter of restricting students' speech. Restricting the viewpoint of a student's speech is unacceptable (as long as the speech is pertinent to the topic at hand).
What does matter is that the classroom is preserved as an environment open to political debate. Students have the right to free speech, but the university classroom is a limited forum in which the professor has wide latitude to dictate the course of the class. Students should be allowed to speak freely and openly as long as it supports the original purpose of the classroom-that is, to learn about the topic at hand.
Fellow students in McWilliams' class, however, said his behavior had a \chilling effect"" on other students' debate. McWilliams, on the other hand, said he had no intention of stifling other students' speech and that it was other students' responsibility to speak up.
It is up to the professor to create an environment where all students can feel free to debate, whatever their views. In this case, it was apparent that both the professor and other students in McWilliams' class felt threatened enough to act. Students from all political backgrounds in his class said they felt uncomfortable speaking, and proactive measures certainly had to be taken in this case.
On a traditionally liberal campus, conservative students should not feel hindered to spark debate in the classroom. A liberal majority should not solely dictate the direction of an academic course. This university needs to respect diverse opinions, regardless of the politics of the professor or a majority of students in the class.
Professors must remain open to dissenting views in their classrooms, but when a student threatens the ability of his or her peers to speak, the university is justified in taking action. Students have the responsibility to keep their classroom discourse civil, and to promote a ""continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.""
