Table of Contents
University of Minnesota Refuses to Censor Play
This week, the University of Minnesota made the correct decision and dismissed calls to censor a play called “The Pope and the Witch”. Catholic interest groups had been protesting the play calling it “pure hate speech” because of its negative portrayal of the Pope and Catholicism. When asked to justify the decision, a university official used precisely the correct answer in stating, “…academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas are the hallmarks of higher education.”
Censorship of offensive or controversial plays on college campuses in nothing new. In 2005, FIRE was forced to intervene in a very similar situation to protect the rights of Washington State University student Chris Lee to hold his controversial play, “Passion of the Musical.”
As FIRE has stated time and time again, the answer to offensive speech is more speech and never censorship. If you find a particular play offensive, then you have every right to organize your community and protest it, but you never have the right to use the government to censor it.
Recent Articles
FIRE’s award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.
FIRE highlights artistic freedom with launch of new YouTube interview series featuring heavy metal and punk’s biggest stars
When free expression gets loud, the censors come knocking — watch FIRE’s new series Fire with FIRE to hear how punk and metal artists fight back.
Same old playbook, new target: AI chatbots
Lawmakers are dusting off digital censorship tactics and aiming them at AI chatbots. But whether it's code or conversation, the First Amendment still applies.
Americans worry about AI in politics — but they’re more worried about government censorship
A new FIRE poll shows nearly half of voters fear AI rules could silence dissent — and most say free speech matters more.
After Michigan State trustees told students to call professor a racist, his lawsuit is moving ahead
After a Michigan State professor called for accountability, two university trustees allegedly launched a smear campaign encouraging students to call him a racist. Now he gets his day in court.