Free Speech, Israel and Illiberalism
Alan Wolfe
Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle Review
November 17, 2006
(full text)(pdf)

Wolfe discusses the issues of policing ideas and silencing debate by looking at recent talks that have been cancelled due to pressure from outside groups who seek to silence views in opposition to their own. Among the cases he considers is the last-minute cancellation of a talk by Tony Judt, European historian at New York University, on "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." Wolfe is troubled by the fact that groups that should be encouraging debate are instead attempting to silence it. (Back to academic freedom)