As many in our
university community know, our colleague, Daniel Brewster, was publicly
assaulted with a vicious and defamatory verbal attack by a visitor to campus
last week. The faculty of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
strongly repudiates these actions and we stand united in support of our dear and
valued colleague. What Daniel Brewster was cruelly subjected to was
nothing short of hate speech. Having specialists in the area of
criminology generally and hate crimes specifically, we understand the ways hate
speech not only wounds morally and emotionally, but often begets hate crimes
writ large. Hate speech on campus has a chilling effect on free speech
and academic freedom. It creates a hostile campus environment where any
one of us who may be considered different or “other,” or who hold opinions and
teach principles that question the status quo, will feel threatened and
fearful. This is unacceptable. The sort of ad hominem personal
attack by last week’s visitor does not
constitute a rational presentation or the free and open exchange of ideas, and
as such has no place in an academic environment. It undermines academic
discourse, which is rooted in valid and reliable research, not personal
defamatory assertions. College campuses are rooted in free speech and
critical thinking – we are not arguing that voices should be silenced, but we
demand that they be civil. Always.