From academic freedom to academic responsibility: privileges and responsibilities regarding speech on campus

In this chapter I counter the claim that free speech is under threat in universities, and instead submit that new opportunities have arisen to make knowledge exchange more inclusive. I begin by outlining the epistemic privileges of academics, specifically: that (a) they benefit from the privilege of being able to access a variety of platforms of considerable reach, and (b) they are deemed to be highly credible. These epistemic privileges suggest the need for regulation of academic speech, both to safeguard against potential harms, but also to ensure that epistemic privileges are deployed in producing a more equitable knowledge community, which is liable to produce better epistemic outcomes. I suggest that academics should endorse restrictions on permissible academic speech, with the aim of producing educational spaces within which epistemic outcomes are optimised for all social groups. One concrete strategy is to seriously engage the potent, but currently much-maligned, regulatory functions of “safe spaces” and “no platforming,” which I define and defend against common objections.