Konvitz lecturer calls for ‘curious, teeming and occasionally noisy pluralism’

First Amendment law and trying to "figure out what's true" are guiding principles for free speech on college campuses, according to constitutional scholar Cass R. Sunstein, who delivered the annual Milton Konvitz Memorial Lecture on Oct. 30.

Sunstein, who also gave the inaugural Konvitz lecture 20 years ago, is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University. The lecture, "Free Speech on Campus," took place at Myron Taylor Hall.

Sunstein asked the audience to consider three propositions: that "universities are arsenals of democracy"; that arsenals of democracy should not limit speech based on "viewpoint discrimination"; and that a university should not use its educational mission to justify "special restrictions on offensive or hurtful speech."

To illustrate viewpoint discrimination, Sunstein provided a simple scenario: banning loud music late at night. If all music is banned, it is not viewpoint discrimination; however, if only some is banned, it is viewpoint discrimination.

Sunstein outlined the basics of the First Amendment and recommended that even private universities should adhere to its principles. He lauded the "extraordinary achievement" of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s and 1980s, in providing important clarification around free speech in the U.S through a series of case-by-case judgments.

"When things get hard, it's often useful to think of a framework that minimizes the number and terribleness of mistakes," he said. "The existing First Amendment principles are something to celebrate, and to bring on board with pride and gratitude."

Universities must avoid requiring "compulsory unification of opinion," Sunstein said, quoting the late Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. As Jackson said, Sunstein continued, when a university limits speech it "achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard." Even if speech is "horrifying, disruptive or enraging," universities should allow it, Sunstein said.

Sunstein closed by urging universities to allow the "curious, teeming and occasionally noisy pluralism of living communities trying to figure out what's true."

The Konvitz Lecture was founded in 2005 by Irwin M. Jacobs '54 BEE '56 and his late wife, Joan Klein Jacobs '54.

Konvitz was a professor at ILR and Cornell Law School from 1946 until he retired in 1973. He was a founder of the ILR School and a leading authority on U.S. constitutional and labor law.

This year's lecture was co-sponsored by the Cornell University Office of the President and the ILR School.

Tonya Engst is a writer for the ILR School.