>The reason they shouldn’t do this is that such declarations impede free discourse by discouraging those who disagree with the statements from speaking up. If your department has an official statement about the college or the country being “structurally racist”, for instance, what student or untenured professor would disagree publicly? Why risk your degree or your tenure by going up against an official statement?<p>Just want to point out how ironic this is coming from a publisher called "why evolution is true". For the most part I agree banning that speaker was over the line, actually. But where that line is, isn't so clear. There are people that argue creationism should be taught, that there is more support for it than it seems but people are afraid of being labeled crazy. Where such lines begin and end are growing increasingly blurry. At some point there will be demands that one of these common conspiracy theories be taught-- dems are evil, new world order, qanon.. take your pick. I imagine it's in areas where a lot of believers live, that the most pressure will be felt. It's that day that I really fear