WMMR’s Preston and Steve Talk Campus Free Speech With Senator Chris Coons

Weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. EDT, Philadelphia’s rock station, 93.3 WMMR, fills the airwaves with bizarre news, celebrity interviews, games, and chances to win prizes courtesy of popular radio hosts Preston and Steve.

On last Friday’s show, Preston and Steve interviewed U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and the topic of conversation turned to free speech on campus. Sen. Coons started the discussion by pointing out that politics works better when people listen to each other and work together:

Sen. Coons: Politics is messy. But politics which is what our framers chose here in Philadelphia says, we have to listen, we have to work across the aisle, we have to welcome people with different views, and we have to find a way down the middle. And our politics in the last twenty years seems to have forgotten that. It seems to be driving further and further apart and saying "my way or the highway." And in primaries, either Democrats or Republicans who have engaged in compromise, worked across the aisle, are getting driven out of office. That’s not healthy and that’s not good. The structure of our Constitution, the way our system works, it only works if you're willing to compromise.

Steve: Chris, does it freak you out when you—I’ll call you Chris—does it freak you out when you see on college campuses, where there used to be the most freest exchange of ideas, becoming fascistic in the way they approach dialogue? It’s clamping down.

Sen. Coons: Yes, college is the time when you can and should really debate things, really have a wide open exchange in a debate. And the idea that somehow we are going to create these spaces where you can’t say things because they might offend people. It’s important to remember the distinction between what you say and what you do.

The audio is available here.

Sen. Coons is exactly right, and we are glad that he and the WMMR hosts took the time to discuss these important issues.