'Hostility May Be Warranted,' Controversial Free-Speech Editorial at Wellesley College Says

WELLESLEY, MA – An editorial in Wellesley College's student newspaper sparked fierce backlash from critics who said the ideas espoused were harmful to free speech. The piece, published Wednesday in the Wellesley News, calls for "problematic opinions" to be addressed.

"The founding fathers put free speech in the Constitution as a way to protect the disenfranchised and to protect individual citizens from the power of the government," the Wellesley News staff writes. "The spirit of free speech is to protect the suppressed, not to protect a free-for-all where anything is acceptable, no matter how hateful and damaging."

Many panned the editorial on social media as running counter to the principles of free speech in higher education and the United States. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic, called it "one of the more frightening editorials I've ever read."

But Sharvari Johari, a co-editor-in-chief of the Wellesley News, stood by the piece and told the Boston Globe it addressed specific incidents that had occurred on campus. In a statement to the publication, she said the editorial staff does not want the school to be a place where "hate speech goes unchecked."

Colleges across the country have struggled with "checking" controversial topics while maintaining a free exchange of ideas as some students toe the line between challenging an opinion and threatening the individual holding it.

"If people are given the resources to learn and either continue to speak hate speech or refuse to adapt their beliefs, then hostility may be warranted," the editorial states. "If people continue to support racist politicians or pay for speakers that prop up speech that will lead to the harm of others, then it is critical to take the appropriate measures to hold them accountable for their actions."

>>>Read the full editorial here.

By Daderot (Own work [Public domain]), via Wikimedia Commons