Silencing professor speech to prevent students from being offended — or from fearing discrimination by the professors

Volokh Conspiracy  "People often support disciplining and even firing professors who say things that are perceived as racist on the grounds that 1) those professors can’t be trusted to evaluate minority students fairly, 2) students will be afraid that they won’t be judged fairly, or 3) students will more broadly lose confidence in the professors (or just couldn’t stand to be in the room with them) or even in the institution, and won’t learn as effectively. I’ve seen these arguments made often, most recently as to the University of Oregon controversy. One response to my Oregon post, for instance . . .  “What does the institution say to students of color by allowing [Prof. Nancy] Shurtz back into a classroom?” — seems to be implicitly making these arguments (though it seems to focus most clearly on No. 3. But, again, this is just one example among many."

Eugene Volokh teaches free speech law, religious freedom law, church-state relations law, a First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic, and tort law, at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy.