{"id":11154,"date":"2024-06-11T20:03:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T20:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11154"},"modified":"2024-06-11T21:10:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T21:10:02","slug":"university-of-wisconsin-president-promises-new-focus-on-free-speech-civil-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11154","title":{"rendered":"University of Wisconsin President Promises New Focus on Free Speech, Civil Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/university-of-wisconsin-president-promises-new-focus-on-free-speech-civil-dialogue\/tcsquare\/2024\/06\/11\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Benjamin Yount<\/h5>\n

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The new free speech lessons for the University of Wisconsin\u2019s next freshman class will not just be about speaking your mind.<\/p>\n

UW President Jay Rothman told regents during meeting in Milwaukee he is planning a new curriculum for new students about both sides of the right to freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fall, all incoming freshmen students will learn more about freedom of expression and about the rights and responsibilities associated with the First Amendment,\u201d Rothman said. \u201cThis provides the foundation for any subsequent discussion and debate on a number of possibly contentious topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman (pictured above) said the UW needs to reevaluate what free speech on campus means, particularly after the pro-Palestinian protests that played out at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Rothman has been clear the university supports the right to protest on campus. But he\u2019s been equally clear the UW cannot, and will not in the future, allow anyone to break the law or silence other students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last month or so, a number of our campuses have had demonstrations in reaction to the ongoing situation in the Middle East,\u201d Rothman explained. \u201cThrough this the Universities of Wisconsin remain committed to upholding free speech rights, while simultaneously upholding the law, and our mission to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman said there is a perception that free speech rights on campus are somehow under attack. He pointed to Republican lawmakers who\u2019ve pushed for tougher free speech laws for years at the UW.<\/p>\n

But Rothman said it\u2019s not speech that is having trouble on campus. It\u2019s listening to other people\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the Universities of Wisconsin I believe the rights of our students to express themselves freely is not the primary issue. Rather I believe the real challenge is ensuring the presence of civil dialogue,\u201d Rothman added. \u201cBy this, I mean the simple act of respectfully sharing ideas and opinions and listening to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman did not say just what the new free speech curriculum will entail.<\/p>\n

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Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square. <\/a>
\nPhoto \u201cJay Rothman\u201d by Jay Rothman<\/a>. Background Photo \u201cUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Campus\u201d by University of Wisconsin-Madison.<\/a>
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The post University of Wisconsin President Promises New Focus on Free Speech, Civil Dialogue<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/university-of-wisconsin-president-promises-new-focus-on-free-speech-civil-dialogue\/tcsquare\/2024\/06\/11\/ by Benjamin Yount \u00a0 The new free speech lessons…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11155,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11154\/revisions\/11155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}