UChicago President Stands Up to Leftist Mob, Affirms Professor’s Free Speech Rights

What a breath of fresh air. Robert Zimmer, the president of University of Chicago, has taken a bold stance in defense of free speech in the wake of an angry leftist mob’s attempts to topple a professor. In a letter to the UChicago community, Zimmer defends Dorian Abbot – a professor who is under attack for noting the problems with diversity-based hiring practices. “…the University will continue to defend vigorously any faculty member’s right to publish and discuss his or her ideas,” Zimmer wrote. “We believe universities have an important role as places where novel and even controversial ideas can be proposed, tested and debated,” the statement read. “For this reason, the University does not limit the comments of faculty members, mandate apologies, or impose other disciplinary consequences for such comments.” Leftists claim Abbot’s ideas “threaten the safety and belonging” of minority communities, and issued a laundry list of demands to President Zimmer. The demands ranged from relieving Zimmer of his social media responsibilities for the department to creating “accountability measures” for “bigoted” behavior. Good on President Zimmer for refusing to bend the knee to the cancel crazed mob. More university administrators should take note that this is the proper way to handle free speech issues – affirming the First Amendment rights for faculty – rather than punishing them for creating an environment where the free and open exchange of ideas can flourish.