Northwestern University has long been a school hostile to free speech. My alma mater was ranked 197 out of 203 universities for free speech in a major survey by FIRE. (Fortunately, my other alma mater, the University of Chicago, was ranked number one for free speech). This month showed why Northwestern developed a reputation for speech intolerance and a lack of ideological diversity. Northwestern University’s Associated Student Government suspended the funding for the College Republicans due to objections to posters for an event featuring writer and critical race theory critic James Lindsay. The justification was a poster featuring a skull and crossbones, an objection that seemed more of a pretense than a principle. This move reportedly came after Lindsay’s speech was the subject of protests on campus.According to the Daily Northwestern, one of the posters displayed a skull and crossbones that was superimposed over the LGBT Pride flag. ASG co-president, Molly Whalen, seemed disappointed that the group did not have the power to ban Lindsay but took solace from the fact that they could deny the Republicans any funding:
“We can’t prevent a speaker from coming to campus as student government. That’s done by administration. We focused on the part that we could control, which is student group conduct and student group finances.”
It is doubtful that other groups from the College Democrats to Black Lives Matter to pro-choice groups would be sanctioned for using the common symbol to express their opposition to the MAGA movement or racism or pro-life positions.