Free Speech Then vs Now

In 2015, the University of Chicago made a promise that sounded almost old fashioned. Its Committee on Freedom of Expression issued the Stone Report, which said it is not the proper role of the university to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive. Civility mattered, the report said, but concerns about civility could never justify closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable. It was a clear rule, stated in plain language, and dozens of schools went on to endorse versions of it.

Eleven years later, watch what happens to that rule when it meets a petition. Morton Schapiro, the former president of Northwestern University, was scheduled to deliver the Georgetown Law commencement address on May 17, 2026. He withdrew on May 6 after Georgetown law students protested and petitioned to have his invitation rescinded over what they called his controversial, Zionist, and harmful opinions. The cited offense was an op-ed Schapiro wrote expressing support for Israel and Jewish people after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. A commencement speech, one of the lowest stakes events in academic life, could not survive a student petition over an op-ed. The 2015 promise said discomfort is the price of education. The 2026 practice says discomfort is grounds for cancellation.

The same reversal shows up in comedy. After the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, an estimated 3.7 million people marched across France and more than 80 world leaders joined the Paris rally in defense of free speech and a free press. At the Golden Globes that month, George Clooney said the marchers marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear, and closed with "Je suis Charlie." The culture, for a moment, agreed that offending people was not a crime and that satire deserved protection, not permission slips.

Now look at 2026. Two venues canceled Israeli comedian Guy Hochman's shows in January 2026 after activist pressure. One theater, the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills, reportedly demanded he publicly condemn Israel as a condition to perform. PEN America first condemned the cancellations, with a program director calling ideological litmus tests for artists a profound violation of free expression. Then, in February 2026, the free speech group walked its condemnation back. The group built to defend expression retreated from defending expression.

That is the pattern. Then: defend the offensive idea. Now: file a complaint about it. Then: march for the satire magazine. Now: demand the comedian pass a purity test before he gets a microphone. The institutions that once promised to hold the line now negotiate the terms of surrender, one petition at a time. Je suis Charlie, unless the petition says otherwise.

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