Free Speech and Inconsistency
Regardless of the Ford Foundation petition that President Wright recently signed, the leader of one of the world's most enduring academic institutions clearly does not understand how free speech works. By permanently "de-recognizing" Zeta Psi for violating its speech code, Dartmouth made it clear that it does not aspire to respect freedom of speech. Restricting any speech whatsoever may be dangerous, but one major reason speech codes are so insidious is that they inevitably require arbitrary line-drawing. These lines can be established to advance the political and other goals of those drawing the lines, lines which are explicitly intended to preserve and protect the freedom of groups and individuals in need of protection and preservation. Implicitly, however, they represent a zero-sum game, restricting the free expression of one group (if that group espouses a view contrary to the line drawer's) while furthering other competing views.