Interview with Dr. Arnold

Socrates, a Greek philosopher, developed the Socratic Method: a dialogue between teachers and students in order to explore different thoughts and ideas. Dr. Arnold is a Political Science professor at TCU, and Socrates is a big influence in his view of and approach to education and free speech in the classroom. Free speech is something he holds valuable in the classroom and makes it known to students by how he conducts class discussions and the free speech codes in class syllabi, including noting and expanding on Section II.2 of TCU’s Bill of Student Rights and Responsibilities. He uses his role in the classroom to make students think critically about issues and challenge students’ beliefs by including a variety of topics and introducing many new ideas.

Dr. Arnold believes that the classroom is meant to seek the truth and that his role as professor is to engage students. When he teaches, he respects what everyone has to say, and he does not give his personal opinions on discussion topics. When asked if he feels that this is a violation to his free speech, he said no. Dr. Arnold stated that students should not know his opinion because it is irrelevant to the coursework. He considers the classroom a place for scholars, not activists.

When discussing free speech in the classroom generally, Dr. Arnold compared student feelings to Adam Swift’s study of freedom between formal and effective freedom. Students formally have the right to free speech, but they are unable to effectively use this freedom because they lack the support or comfort to do so in the classroom due to fear of reactions and repercussions. We discussed how unfortunate this is because the university and academic setting in general is THE place to hear all sorts of ideas, even those that are far out. It is clear that Dr. Arnold is passionate about free speech and has worked hard to make sure that his students are able to hear and state any idea relevant to the course materials. It is evident by the amount of differing opinions students express that the students feel more comfortable with this approach.

Interview with Chloe Appel

Chloe Appel is president of TCU’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. She is very open about her political stance and is confident in her beliefs. Chloe feels very comfortable expressing her beliefs on campus as a whole. In the classroom, she feels that self-censorship really only occurs when the professor is open about their stance and it is different from hers because professors ultimately control the grades. She often tables for TPUSA, and there is really no pushback from people walking by. This semester, TCU TPUSA is hosting TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. To her surprise, there has been little pushback from TCU administration or students. This shows good faith on the university’s part, seeing as there has been conflict in the past. It took TPUSA three semesters for TCU to allow this organization to be established on campus.

There has, however, been hate comments on TCU TPUSA Instagram posts. These comments have been left up because they have the right to speak about the subject. There was an Instagram post by the TCU Democrats, where they urged TCU to not allow Charlie Kirk to come to campus. When members of TPUSA commented on their posts in response, comments were deleted and users who commented were blocked. This was an incident where censorship was in full swing: online by fellow TCU students. Social media incidents, like this, are the most blatant form of censorship that Chloe has experienced when it comes to TCU.

“If you think your opinions are correct and you think you stand in fact, you aren’t going to be bothered by someone who says something to you because you know you are correct and can counter what they say. But, if you are afraid of being proven wrong, you will silence everyone around you.” - Chloe Appel