What are the limits to free speech in a university setting? And how does our society define what is permissible speech and what is not? When Ulrich Baer wrote What Snowflakes Get Right, his hope was to expand free speech on campuses and provoke a debate on the proper scope of conversation in the classroom.

Ulrich is a professor of comparative literature at New York University and is the author and translator of multiple books of translation and criticism, including The Poet’s Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke and a novel, We Are But a Moment. 

Ulrich and Greg discuss the unique emphasis that Americans place on free speech, especially in a higher education context, and how free speech can sometimes be in conflict with other values.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

What things should be up for debate? What should not be up for debate?

50:33: We should allow everybody to debate: What is the true meaning of equality? Those things should have to be open for debate precisely because we don't want to impose that on people to say, this is the way our society is functioning.

The importance of free speech

9:43: If free speech is restricted, the first thing that goes is creative literature because it's obscene, offensive, or anything. But free speech is a value, and it's also federally mandated and enshrined in the First Amendment.

The power of opening yourself up to other ideas and perspectives

52:02: The most amazing thing is what happens in universities when people actually change their minds. Actually, as a teacher, I think about this a lot. I cannot change my students' minds. I cannot make them have an imagination. All I can do is give them moments and opportunities where that happens for them.

Recommended Resources:

• TikTok Congressional hearings
• Unite the Right rally
• Ulrich’s press: Warbler Press 
• Title IX
• Diversity, Inc: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business 
• Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech 

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at New York University 
• Ulrich Baer's Website 
• Ulrich Baer on LinkedIn
• Ulrich Baer on Twitter
• Ulrich Baer on YouTube

His Work:

• Ulrich’s podcast: Think About It Podcast 
• What Snowflakes Get Right: Free Speech, Truth, and Equality on Campus 
• The Poet’s Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke
• Rilke on Love
• We Are But a Moment