Virtual Event: Sigal Ben-Porath

Harvard Book Store and the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics welcome SIGAL BEN-PORATH of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania for a discussion of her new book Cancel Wars: How Universities Can Foster Free Speech, Promote Inclusion, and Renew Democracy. She will be joined in conversation by JANE KAMENSKY—Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University.

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About Cancel Wars

College campuses have become flashpoints of the current culture war and, consequently, much ink has been spilled over the relationship between universities and the cultivation or coddling of young American minds. Philosopher Sigal R. Ben-Porath takes head-on arguments that infantilize students who speak out against violent and racist discourse on campus or rehash interpretations of the First Amendment. Ben-Porath sets out to demonstrate the role of the university in American society and, specifically, how it can model free speech in ways that promote democratic ideals.

In Cancel Wars, she argues that the escalating struggles over “cancel culture,” “safe spaces,” and free speech on campus are a manifestation of broader democratic erosion in the United States. At the same time, she takes a nuanced approach to the legitimate claims of harm put forward by those who are targeted by hate speech. Ben-Porath’s focus on the boundaries of acceptable speech (and on the disproportional impact that hate speech has on marginalized groups) sheds light on the responsibility of institutions to respond to extreme speech in ways that proactively establish conversations across difference. Establishing these conversations has profound implications for political discourse beyond the boundaries of collegiate institutions. If we can draw on the truth, expertise, and reliable sources of information that are within the work of academic institutions, we might harness the shared construction of knowledge that takes place at schools, colleges, and universities against truth decay. Of interest to teachers and school leaders, this book shows that by expanding and disseminating knowledge, universities can help rekindle the civic trust that is necessary for revitalizing democracy.

Praise for Cancel Wars

“Timely and important, Cancel Wars is a first-rate book with practical recommendations for educators and relevance for our current era of democratic backsliding and political polarization. Sigal R. Ben-Porath rejects the dominant framing of the controversies over free speech, which divides the two sides in the culture wars over education, and provides a menu of creative alternatives that schools, colleges, and universities can use to fulfill their joint mission of supporting free speech while mitigating the harms of harmful speech.” —Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan

“In Cancel Wars, Sigal R. Ben-Porath offers an insightful, original, and powerful analysis of how colleges, universities, and lower schools must play an ever-more central role in fostering a free and open educational process in order to redress the increasing polarization that has seriously damaged our democracy. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with these profoundly important issues.” —Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago