ASU's Press Release
Free Speech Friendly or the Chilling Effect?
ASU’s President Crow has voiced strong support for free speech on campus. But we must remember that free speech does not include libel (published falsehoods that harm someone’s reputation and career). Nor does free speech include removing advertising for an event you don’t like. So as you read the ASU press release below, keep a few things in mind:
The Barrett faculty who objected to the event did so because they said Mr. Lewis was trying to pay to have his personal opinions imposed on students. They say nothing when left-leaning donors fund leftist speakers.
They objected to the speakers, who they called white nationalist bigots (one of whom is Japanese American and another is Jewish).
Advertising for the event was taken down while advertising for a protest event was posted on the official Barrett schedule.
Ann Atkinson was told that the speakers could not talk about politics.
Ann Atkinson was asked if she is inviting these speakers, what would keep her from inviting the KKK?
Mr. Lewis withdrew his money because ASU did nothing to speak up and defend him against these insults from the Barrett faculty.
Ann Atkinson found alternative sources of funding for the Center to keep it running, but it was shut down anyway, and she was terminated.
Linda Blake, who ran events at Gammage Auditorium, was fired for allowing this event, and no other position at ASU was offered to her.
Barrett included the protest event below on its official web page and emails but would not mention the Lewis Center event and did not advertise that event. Free speech friendly?
Parents, students, and State Representatives, if this treatment of conservatives and Christian and Jewish people continues, do you believe Barrett supports free speech for all perspectives?
https://newsroom.asu.edu/statement/freedom-of-speech-at-arizona-state-university
