The University of Wisconsin–Madison hosted free speech advocate Greg Lukianoff yesterday for a timely conversation with Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin about free expression on college campuses and how UW–Madison can continue its efforts to build a culture that encourages vigorous discourse.
With nearly 200 in attendance at the DeLuca Forum in the Discovery Building, Chancellor Mnookin kicked off the discussion with Lukianoff, president and CEO of the, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) with a question about his background and what steered him toward a career as a champion of free speech.
Lukianoff shared an evocative story of being the child of a Russian immigrant who left the Soviet Union (and who, as chance may have it, attended UW–Madison). Growing up in New York, Lukianoff was surrounded by other immigrants who also loved America and its foundational First Amendment that stood in contrast to the authoritarian governments many of them had fled.
Those experiences informed Lukianoff’s beliefs in free speech as the bedrock principle in pursuit of human knowledge. “Dissent is essential for understanding the world as it is,” Lukianoff said.