U. of Chicago’s Free-Expression Letter Exposes Fault Lines on Campus
When John Ellison sat down to write a letter welcoming the Class of 2020 to the University of Chicago, he very likely had no idea his words would add fuel to the national debate over academic freedom and the use of safe spaces and trigger warnings in higher education. The letter, in which the dean of students sought to remind students of the university’s longstanding commitment to free expression, tripped itself up with confusing language and a tone that struck some as condescending. And it became a Rorschach test for Chicago’s students and professors, highlighting longstanding tensions on a campus that presents itself to the outside world as a stalwart of vigorous intellectual debate.