Last year, Minneapolis civil rights attorney Jordan Kushner was banned from the University of Minnesota after being arrested for trying to videotape police-protester interactions at a Law School guest lecture. During this time, I saw my peers take assertive stances against such a preposterous idea — the right to the freedom of speech, they argued, was quintessential and should not be violated.

But this certainly wasn’t true for other perspectives brought to our campus. When Milo Yiannopoulos — a conservative pundit — came to campus, I saw a sea of undergraduate students demanding that he be banned from speaking, largely because of his outspoken misogyny and bigotry.

This type of hypocrisy has ravaged left-leaning campuses across the country, unfortunately. The victims of these students’ boycotts — who range from professors to reporters — are acting within their constitutional rights and trying to spur campus dialogues.

We must stop this. Students cannot continue to insulate their perspectives from outside influence. If someone believes something that is at odds with our philosophy, we must learn to engage with them, academically. Removing their physical presence in no way validates our perspectives — it only solidifies the idea that we don’t have an adequate response to their bigotry and hatred.

I’d like to see an atmosphere where we welcome all perspectives, bigoted or not, misogynistic or not, educated or not, and deconstruct these perspectives through dialogue and debate. Our campus cannot be a safe space without welcoming and encouraging all students to speak and challenge each others’ perspectives and beliefs.

Anant welcomes comments at [email protected]