"Perhaps the most important arena for the debate about what it means to be an inquisitive society is on university campuses.

It's been a big issue in the news recently because of controversial statements made by Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, or Ward Churchill, a professor at the University of Colorado.

But strip away the personalities involved or the content of what they said and it tests a core belief: You either support academic freedom or not, right?

Academic freedom, like First Amendment freedom, is often stretched by the absurd proposition. We defend the indefensible speech because it's a better alternative than controlled, regulated speech."

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Mark Trahant: University campus important arena for debate about inquisitive society (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/6)

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