Thugs, Snowflakes, Radicals, and Anti-Intellectuals: Exploring How Whiteness as Property Functions in Campus Free Speech Debates

• In Event: 79.051 - MTCC Roundtable Session 37
  In Roundtable Session: 79.051-2 - Interrogating Whiteness

Abstract

Though on the surface arguments for "free speech" seem to benefit all, recent events on college campuses have demonstrated that while "free speech" is cited as a way to build a more inclusive and diverse society in many cases the most marginalized groups are victimized, silenced, mocked, and targeted when objecting to campus speakers that espouse, racist, classist, or xenophobic viewpoints. This paper analyzes the reaction and fall out at a small liberal arts college in the Northeast when one such speaker came to campus. The author argues that the vehement defense of "free speech" on this campus is a prime example of the whiteness as property.

Author

• Tara Lynn Affolter, Middlebury College