Sep 21, 2017
Is free speech under threat at colleges across America? Some argue
campus environments are no longer conducive to open dialogue.
Others say debates on campus are alive and well. A recent
nationwide survey of younger voters shows their commitment to free
speech is reduced. Of 1,500 undergraduate students across U.S.
universities, a fifth of them responded that it’s acceptable to use
physical force to silence a speaker who makes “offensive and
hurtful comments.” In this episode, Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang
discuss the survey with Catherine Rampell, who wrote about it in a
recent opinion piece in The Washington Post. Rampell frequently
covers economics, public policy, politics and culture, with a
special emphasis on data-driven journalism. Before joining The
Post, Rampell wrote about economics and theater for The New York
Times. She has received the Weidenbaum Center Award for
Evidence-Based Journalism and is a Gerald Loeb Award finalist. She
grew up in South Florida (the New York part) and graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Princeton University in 2007.