Dear,

My name is Hannah Beiderwieden and I graduated from Duke in 2017 with a major in Public Policy
studies. I am writing to you because it has come to my attention that Duke does not intend to renew
professor Evan Charney’s contract due in part to complaints by students and faculty about his
controversial teaching style, which they claim to be intimidating and offensive.

I was seven semesters deep into my undergraduate studies and contemplated which classes I should take
for my eighth and final semester at Duke. Naturally, I consulted my fellow students about
recommendations for professors or classes: “You can’t leave Duke without taking a class with professor
Charney” said not just one but several classmates who had taken a course with professor Charney.
Seeking to make the most of my last three months at Duke, I took his elective on “Offensive Speech” – a
class that pushed me to rethink the importance of free speech and freedom of expression and taught me
important lessons that reached far beyond the classroom.

Professor Charney prefaced the course in an unusual way, especially given the contemporary climate of
political correctness and hyper-sensitivity on college campuses, by saying: “I don’t care if you are liberal
or conservative, black or white, male or female, Christian, Jewish, Muslim; I will challenge you. I will
challenge every thought you articulate.” Why, one might ask, does a professor begin a course by
preparing his students to have their viewpoints thoroughly scrutinized? Further, and more importantly,
why is it crucial that students learn to confront ideas they dislike, thoughts that make them uncomfortable,
viewpoints that lie outside of the academic and political mainstream?

In recent years, students at institutions of higher learning all across the country have issued increased
demands for restrictions on speech, asking universities to provide the same set of comfort and security
they find at home. This includes but is not limited to disinviting controversial, overwhelmingly
conservative, speakers and asking faculty members to step down for circulating unorthodox ideas. I
hasten you to consider this paradox: America is home to the most outspoken society in large part due to
the First Amendment to the Constitution and our evolved understanding of the importance of speech. Our
history of silencing dissenters, punishing disrespectful comments on presidents, and imprisoning
newspaper editors taught us a fundamental lesson: that the freedom to speak and express yourself is the
inescapable necessity und crucial foundation of democracy. Yet, at the same time, there is a crisis of free
speech on American college campuses because speech that should be protected is discouraged, protested,
censored, or investigated under Title IX. Instead of learning to tolerate ideas we find offensive, we seek to
eliminate them from college campuses all together. However, when “offendedness” becomes the standard
by which universities judge whether or not to tolerate speech, we risk regulating an inconceivable amount
of speech that is critical to classroom debates and the educational experience, especially in the realm of
public policy, because virtually any subset of the student population can claim something as offensive to
their identity.

It is pivotal to acknowledge that universities have a history of differential treatment towards minorities
and that they play an important role in fostering an inclusive environment. However, universities cannot
be engines of discovery and understanding if certain topics are discouraged from being discussed to begin
with. Given the current climate, professors fear losing their job over voicing unpopular opinions and
challenging orthodoxies; that this kind of self-censorship, which inevitably leads to homogeneity of ideas,
poses a threat to education warrants no further explanation. And when classrooms become safe havens as
opposed to centers for debate, a university falls short of a core principle, namely the discovery of truth
and the fostering of intellectual growth. That said, Prof. Charney is well aware of the changing climate on
college campuses and concerned about the potential repercussions on students’ education and their ability
to engage with people they disagree with as they enter the real world. Since students are not used to
having their viewpoints challenged, especially if doing so entails voicing unpopular ideas, Prof. Charney
felt the need to prepare us for ‘the unusual.’ Objectively speaking, however, the response to a professor
saying “Be prepared to have your opinion challenged in my classroom” should be: “Isn’t that the purpose
of my education?”

In light of the current movement, driven largely by students, towards free speech restrictions, it does not
come at a surprise that some people complain about a teaching style that makes them feel uncomfortable.
At the end of the day, it can be unpleasant to realize that one’s staunchly held opinion is more fragile and
vulnerable to attack than we thought it was. Indeed, Prof. Charney left me speechless and unable to
counter his arguments more than once throughout the semester. Yet admitting that we are not infallible is
a far greater accomplishment and learning experience than trying to refute every argument presented to
us. It was certainly the most defining lesson I learned during my four years at Duke, and I owe it entirely
to Prof. Charney.

There remains no doubt that it is unacceptable for professors to explicitly target or humiliate a student on
the basis of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion because it interferes with their ability to
pursue their education. However, that is simply not the case with Prof. Charney. On the contrary, he
spares no one when it comes to challenging ideas and pushing people to encounter viewpoints they seek
to ignore or silence. We, as students, have simply grown accustomed to being coddled by professors, so
we perceive challenges to our opinions as attacks on our identity. This vindictive approach to debate
leaves everyone less inclined to articulate heterodox beliefs - so Prof. Charney took it upon himself to do
exactly that. Hence, amid an environment in which classroom debate is stifled through student-imposed
censorship, Prof. Charney’s teaching style is not offensive, it is courageous. His attempt to facilitate
discourse and challenge ideas is not a sign of weakness, but of strength.

Lastly, I wish to emphasize the importance of free speech for the development and growth of students.
Part of the learning experience at universities should be encountering disturbing narratives and learning to
engage with ‘the thought that we hate.’ Otherwise, universities risk sending their students off to the real
world with little to no sense of the political and ideological diversity of the country. For three and a half
years, I fell victim to the sort of political tribalism that we witness all across the United States, and across
the world for that matter; when I returned home to Germany for winter- or summer break, I would get into
heated and emotional arguments with my parents whom I criticized for being intolerant and harboring
regressive beliefs, only to realize that it was I who had become intolerant. Furthermore, I had lost my
ability to argue because I was never asked to elaborate on my viewpoints, let alone consider opposing
ideas. Then, I took Prof. Charney’s eye-opening class through which I learned that the only way to truly
gain confidence in my opinion is to have an open mind and listen to other opinions, knowing that I
searched for objections and difficulties rather than eluding them. Approximately one year after my
graduation, I - a registered Democrat - work for a Republican Congressman in Washington, D.C. And
again, I owe this acquired open-mindedness to none other than Prof. Charney.

Crucial elements of Duke University’s mission statement are “to advance the frontiers of knowledge,” “to
promote an intellectual environment built on a commitment to free and open inquiry,” and “to promote a
deep appreciation for the range of human difference and potential...and a commitment to learning,
freedom, and truth.” Universities are supposed to provide students with tools to navigate the realities of
the real world in which they are bound to encounter opinions they might find ‘wrong’ or uncomfortable. I
have met few individuals who are more committed to the University’s stated principles than Prof.
Charney. Everyone who told me I could not leave Duke without taking a class with Prof. Charney was
right. I would have been wholly unprepared for the realities of disagreement and dissent inherent in a
society as diverse as the United States.
I respectfully urge you to reconsider renewing Prof. Charney’s contract at Duke. His departure would be a
great loss to the student body and a setback for Duke. Thank you for taking the time to hear my thoughts.

Sincerely,

Hannah Beiderwieden