You would be hard-pressed to find someone who would challenge the notion that without freedom of speech, a society can no longer thrive and prosper. Yet freedom of expression has never been more in jeopardy on college campuses than it is right now, and the higher education institutions that vehemently purport to protect freedom of speech are among the greatest culprits suppressing it.
For the past three years, students at the University of Chicago have been exposing the facade without intimidation or fear, and they just keep raising the bar. One week from today, students will be hosting academic and industry leaders to discuss “Academia’s COVID Failures,” and you cannot miss the livestream of this event.
The symposium will consist of a series of roundtable discussions that will include “The Betrayal of Academic Ethics,” ‘“Academia’s Losses at Hands of COVID Mandates,” and “The Path Towards Safeguarding Academia” with speakers that include Dr. Scott Atlas, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Ilya Shapiro, Larry Arnn, Jan Jekielek and many more including a pre-recorded presentation by a surprise guest.
When:
Friday, May 19, 2023, 11:30-4:30pm CST
Where:
Livestream at The Chicago Thinker
Livestream at The Epoch Times
Sponsors:
Health Freedom Defense Fund
No College Mandates
The Chicago Thinker & UChicago parents
When Chris reached out to me several weeks ago to ask if I could help raise funds and provide support behind the scenes, I jumped at the opportunity. This is the moment I have been wishing and praying for; students with the strength and courage to push back because they refuse to be intimidated by a groupthink mentality that could never hold true to their core values. No College Mandates is a sponsor, and we could not be more proud to elevate this important event that promises to create the model for similar events at other college campuses and that might just save the future of higher education.
To learn more about Christopher Phillips, one of the students organizing this event, you can read his opinion piece that was published in the Epoch Times yesterday by clicking on the photo below. Tucker Carlson called Chris a “credit to your generation” when he appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight as a freshman and member of The Chicago Thinker for confronting Brian Stelter, former chief media correspondent for CNN, at the “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” conference last year.
In 2014, in response to recent events that “tested institutional commitments to free and open discourse,” the University of Chicago appointed a committee of faculty members to draft “The Chicago Principles” which represent that the “University is committed to free and open inquiry in all matters, [and] it guarantees all members of the University community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.”
The Chicago Principles ensure that free and open inquiry on all matters are safeguarded and protected at all costs for “without a vibrant commitment to free and open inquiry, a university ceases to be a university. The University of Chicago’s long-standing commitment to this principle lies at the very core of our University’s greatness. That is our inheritance, and it is our promise to the future.”
Historically, the University of Chicago above above all other liberal elite colleges has promised to defend free speech lest they cease to exist. However, they have failed miserably in practicing the very principles upon which they were built as it has become clear over the past three years that students with alternative viewpoints or inquiries in pursuit of truth through open, honest and independent discourse have been ridiculed and threatened while university administrators remained silent.
A few years ago, students launched The Chicago Thinker with a mission to change that. Our society is facing a free speech crisis of epic proportions, and unless we overcome our differences and join together to protect this most vital of civil liberties, the intellectual freedom upon which our great country was built will become a distant memory.
We hope that you’ll tune into the symposium to hear the riveting presentations and discussions by this distinguished group of leaders in academia and industry.
Please share this post and the link to the livestream across all of your networks. Be sure to let your followers know that they will be witnessing an event envisioned and planned by the future leaders of our country and with them at the helm, it is looking like a much brighter future indeed.
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