The Rhetoric of Free Speech Controversies on US Campuses
As Part of the 2024 College Summer Institute in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts the Parrhesia Program is sponsoring a research project for two undergraduates, mentored by Katya Lukianova, Associate Director of the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse.
The Rhetoric of Free Speech Controversies on US Campuses: Rhetors, Audiences and Genres”: In 2015, the University of Chicago Committee on Freedom of Expression issued an influential report, the so-called “Chicago Principles,” expressing a commitment to uphold ideals of free and open inquiry and safeguard the ability of university members to explore and contest ideas regardless of how uncomfortable or offensive they may be. The Chicago Principles were endorsed or emulated by a wide variety of other colleges and universities across the United States. Yet, since that time, we have been observing an unending stream of controversies that involve appeals to principles of free expression or challenge the distinctions between contestation of ideas and harmful, or hateful, speech and conduct. This project aims to compile a collection of three to five recent case studies on free speech controversies that involve students and apply rhetorical and discourse analysis to map the rhetors involved in each situation, their respective audiences, types of texts and discursive strategies that rhetors employ to advance their goals, as well as opportunities and obstacles to channeling the conflict into productive civic discussion. Research tasks will involve collecting mass media and social media coverage of selected cases, identifying and interviewing stakeholders, and thematic analysis of textual data using qualitative data analysis software.