Arecent poll from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) revealed that conservative students now side with liberal students on keeping controversial speech off campus. This comes just before the one-year anniversary of the assassination of my dear friend, Charlie Kirk, for exercising his free-speech rights on a college campus. As someone who has spent her life in “prove me wrong” exchanges as Charlie did, I understand the value and the risks of public debate, but rejecting free speech in public places isn’t the lesson to be learned from my friend’s murder.
Today, free speech isn’t “free.” From bomb-sniffing dogs to extra security, an average student event on campus can cost around $4,000, but Students for Life and our supporters have been willing to pay the price. We lose too much if we walk away from civil discourse in institutions where the left already has a monopoly on messaging.
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