David Lay Williams
@laywilliams.bsky.social
Political theorist at DePaul and author of The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx (Princeton, 2024). Essays in NY Times, Washington Post, Time, Bloomberg, etc. Jazz Guitar, New York Mets.
I know it's hard to draw up reasonable guidelines about these matters, which is probably why universities and state legislatures have generally trusted professors to handle these matters as they think best promote a convivial learning environment. Anything else runs the danger of excess constraint.
November 4, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I know it's hard to draw up reasonable guidelines about these matters, which is probably why universities and state legislatures have generally trusted professors to handle these matters as they think best promote a convivial learning environment. Anything else runs the danger of excess constraint.
Also, I think I understand what this is getting at, but where do we draw the line? What if a student is a Holocaust denier or a Nazi? How free should they feel to express their views?
November 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Also, I think I understand what this is getting at, but where do we draw the line? What if a student is a Holocaust denier or a Nazi? How free should they feel to express their views?
I think this passage is potentially problematic. For example, when I teach Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People, it's hard not to discuss climate change as a phenomenon parallel to what is confronted by Ibsen's 19th century Norwegian village. Because some doubt climate change, is this off-limits???
November 4, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I think this passage is potentially problematic. For example, when I teach Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People, it's hard not to discuss climate change as a phenomenon parallel to what is confronted by Ibsen's 19th century Norwegian village. Because some doubt climate change, is this off-limits???
It’s a very good book!
November 2, 2025 at 11:43 PM
It’s a very good book!