A lesson for University of South Carolina students: Some people just aren’t worth it | Opinion

Don’t take the bait when the white supremacist founder of a violent group who doesn’t want white “culture” diluted, and a commentator who had been ostracized for his untenable views on pedophilia, visit the University of South Carolina in a couple of weeks. Ignoring or counterprogramming them on Sept. 18 would be a much more powerful statement than giving them the oxygen they want. They aren’t important enough to deserve our anger.

I know it’s a catch-22 to confront or pay no heed to hatred. I’ve grappled with that very dilemma before and while writing this column. It’s why I am only now weighing in on a subject that has caused an uproar at USC for the past couple of weeks. I’m not even sure if it’s the right thing to publish the date of their event (which I am) or their names (which I am not) though those facts are only a quick Google search away.

I understand why thousands of USC students, graduates, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and others have called for the event’s cancellation. It’s likely to be a hate-filled bigoted occasion. The organizers have made that clear in their literature and even addressing journalists with epithets during interviews. They sent me an approval for a press credential that came along with a disgusting, misogynistic term for Vice President Kamala Harris. They are purposefully provocative. That’s how they make their money. The nastier, the better.

But I know that as much as it pains me to say, USC officials are right. They have to allow those speakers on campus. There’s no wiggle room. USC is a public university, where free expression rights are strongest. That’s as it should be, even beyond legal requirements. Free speech must be the default. To undermine that principle because the organizers of this event are noxious would be to set a precedent to deny others. It’s just that in other cases, people we like, respect or agree with could be the ones deemed noxious. It could be used to deny pro-Gaza or pro-Israel protests, for instance. Or the university would be able to ban things such as kneeling during the national anthem.

The threat of violence would be the only reasonable basis to deny them the right to put on their event. Given the past affiliation of one of the hosts, that’s the closest I could come to thinking of a legitimate reason for USC officials to cancel. But not even that passes muster. There must be a clear and convincing threat of violence in this case, not a vague one. Such a threat simply hasn’t materialized.

We dealt with a similar uneasy balance at Davidson College, a private institution where I teach and led efforts to shore up free speech protections. There was a lot of disagreement and even hurt feelings. There’s just no getting around that messy reality in an environment which prides itself on academic excellence, diversity, and bold inquiry and innovation.

Our anger is their fuel. That’s why I recommend ignoring them on the night of their event. Or planning an event to draw as many students and as much attention to the other side of campus as possible. Or driving up I-77 to Davidson to check out my 7 p.m. presentation: “From the World of Woke: 2+2+? and the Importance of Language about Vulnerable Groups.”

An institution of higher learning must adhere to free speech protections, even in the face of absurdity. It must teach students how to navigate differences in healthy ways, and embrace rather than shrink from challenges. Students should also be taught to understand the difference between real threats, or ginned up ones like what’s going to happen on Sept. 18 at USC.

Those two men are simply not worth our time. That a student group invited them is concerning, not because they shouldn’t have the right to, but because they thought it a good idea.

It’s why I’d spend that night — and will be doing so in Davidson — helping students hone their critical thinking skills. It’s better than wasting time on a couple of guys who are unworthy of it.

This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 9:28 AM.