Rant: Our student government spent 4 months debating a 'heckler's veto' policy for guest speakers

The proposal was to let a majority vote of students in the room shut down any invited speaker they found offensive. It finally got voted down last week after a huge fight. Do you think letting the audience veto a talk is a valid form of protest or just censorship by another name?

4 comments

4 Comments

davidkim1mo ago

What's next, letting the audience vote to end a boring math lecture? Look, if you don't like a speaker, you can leave, or you can actually argue with their ideas. Letting a room vote to shut someone up is just the easiest way to never have to hear anything that makes you think.

allen.iris1mo ago

My cousin got voted off the stage at a poetry slam in Toledo for reading his grocery list.

lily571mo ago

Blair_nguyen has a point about the loudest crowd winning. Didn't a book club in Cleveland kick someone out for liking the movie better?

blair_nguyen1mo ago

Letting a room vote to shut someone up" is the same as letting the loudest crowd win, not the best idea.