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Free Speech and Academic Freedom

Overview

Hamilton College has navigated a persistent tension between its commitment to academic freedom and institutional exposure to political controversy across more than a half-century of Spectator coverage. The paper documents debates over speaker funding equity, the reach of institutional neutrality, and the limits of invited dissent. The most acute episode — the 2004–2005 Kirkland Project crisis involving the hires of Susan Rosenberg and Ward Churchill — produced national media coverage, donor withdrawals, administrative restructuring, and a lasting redefinition of campus programming norms. Earlier controversies over censorship debates, faculty political commentary, and speaker invitations provide essential context for understanding how the college’s culture of public discourse evolved.

Key Points

Early Free Speech Forums and Debates (1990s)

The Meese–Strossen debate on censorship (February 1993) drew a packed audience to Wellin Hall for a Root-Jessup Debate on “The Future of Censorship in America.” Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III and Nadine Strossen of the ACLU took opposing positions on campus speech codes and censorship law. Meese defended robust free speech protections and criticized campus speech codes as unconstitutional overreach; Strossen noted that censorship laws have historically been used against minority groups and cautioned against empowering authorities to define offensive speech. The event captured a national debate playing out on campuses in the early 1990s as universities wrestled with balancing free expression against anti-harassment codes. (The Spectator, February 12, 1993)

The Paquette WSJ Controversy (1997)

Professor Robert Paquette, the Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History, published a letter in the Wall Street Journal on December 4, 1997, accusing the Hamilton administration of systematic liberal ideological bias in speaker funding. Paquette alleged that left-leaning campus organizations received “$5,000, $10,000 and much more” for speakers while the History Department was allotted only $1,500 per year for the entire department, and that conservative groups “have to approach off-campus institutions for help in supporting a conservative speaker of note.” He wrote that “on college campuses, like the frontier, the First Amendment has become the last refuge of scoundrels.”

President Eugene Tobin and Dean of Faculty Bobby Fong both responded in the Spectator, denying the charges of ideological bias in funding decisions. The Conservative Club president stated publicly that he had no complaints about speaker funding. Oliver North had in fact spoken at Hamilton that year. The episode was widely cited as evidence of a national “campus political balance” debate and had ramifications that would resurface years later when Paquette co-founded the Alexander Hamilton Center. (The Spectator, December 12, 1997)

The Kirkland Project and Its Mission

The Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture was founded in the mid-1990s by Hamilton faculty — with Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz as director/coordinator — to carry forward the legacies of Kirkland College (the women’s coordinate college that merged with Hamilton in 1978) in women’s education and innovative pedagogy. A 1992–93 college catalog references it as “emerging,” and by the 1996–97 academic year it was actively hosting programming. By the early 2000s, the Kirkland Project was in its “sixth season” (fall 2001) and had established an annual theme-based programming structure, hosting speakers, artists-in-residence, and community events under director Rabinowitz.

The KP was financed through the college budget but, as would be revealed in 2005, had not undergone formal institutional review during its approximately eight-year existence. (The Spectator, September 20, 1996; The Spectator, September 7, 2001)

The Susan Rosenberg Controversy (Fall 2004)

In November 2004, the Kirkland Project announced the hire of Susan Rosenberg as writer-in-residence for spring 2005 — a partial-credit memoir-writing course. Rosenberg had been sentenced in 1984 to 58 years in federal prison for possession of explosives and stolen vehicles; she was widely associated by law enforcement and media with left-wing domestic terrorism. President Clinton commuted her sentence in January 2001 on his final day in office. She had not been convicted of the 1981 Brink’s armored car robbery in Rockland County, New York, in which two police officers and a security guard were killed, but she was publicly linked to the perpetrators’ network.

The announcement generated immediate controversy. Associate Dean of Students Pillow expressed concern at the time of the announcement. Letters to the Spectator from alumni and family members of the Brink’s victims expressed outrage — including a letter from the widow of Sergeant Edward J. O’Grady, one of the officers killed in the robbery. Some students and faculty defended the hire on academic freedom grounds, arguing that Rosenberg’s credentials as a writer and activist warranted the residency regardless of her history.

On December 10, 2004, the Spectator reported that Rosenberg had withdrawn from the position “in the wake of controversy that ensued upon last month’s announcement.” The Kirkland Project “regretfully” accepted her decision. The Rosenberg episode was the first of two major controversies that would define the 2004–2005 academic year for the KP. (The Spectator, November 5, 2004; The Spectator, November 19, 2004; The Spectator, December 3, 2004; The Spectator, December 10, 2004)

The Ward Churchill Crisis (January–March 2005)

In January 2005, the Kirkland Project announced that Ward Churchill — coordinator of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder — had been invited as a panelist for the spring lecture series “Limits of Dissent?”, scheduled for February 3. Churchill had gained national notoriety for a 2001 essay in which he argued that the victims of the September 11 attacks were not innocent civilians but rather “little Eichmanns” who bore responsibility for U.S. imperial policies.

The invitation ignited a national media firestorm. Director Rabinowitz defended the invitation on academic freedom grounds, noting that Churchill had previously visited Hamilton for a course on Hiroshima. Faculty opposition was vocal and public: Professor Theodore Eismeier (Government) published an op-ed arguing against the invitation, joined by professors Klinkner, Urciuoli, and Wertimer. Eismeier wrote that Churchill “spouts turgid anarchist jargon and silly, hateful rhetoric toward the victims of 9/11.” The college received thousands of emails, letters, and phone calls from parents, alumni, and the general public. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly mobilized viewers to contact Hamilton, and CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC all covered the story.

On approximately February 1–2, 2005, President Joan Hinde Stewart cancelled the event. Stewart cited repeated credible death threats against Churchill and his wife: “As a president charged with the safety and security of the college, I simply cannot allow that.” Churchill had planned to arrive with bodyguards and wearing a bulletproof vest. Some faculty and alumni critics expressed concern that the cancellation itself represented a free speech violation — an alumni letter to the Spectator stated that “cancellation of the Churchill forum is equally troubling.”

The crisis deepened in mid-February when it was revealed that the Kirkland Project had paid Churchill his speaking fee despite the cancellation — contrary to President Stewart’s understanding that he had waived it. The disclosure came as part of President Stewart’s announcement of a formal review of the KP. Several prominent donors withdrew support from the college; some prospective students withdrew their applications. Professor Frank Anechiarico resigned as chair of the Government Department “as a matter of principle,” citing the administration’s handling of the crisis.

In late February, President Stewart confirmed publicly that she had asked Rabinowitz to step down as director, citing “concerns about the administration of the Kirkland Project.” A letter from a Native American leader in South Dakota — published in the Spectator — thanked Hamilton for cancelling Churchill, stating that Churchill had “curtailed his free speech rights” and did not represent the American Indian Movement.

In March 2005, the Kirkland Project’s 31-member Coordinating Council voted to cancel all remaining spring 2005 programming. Stewart and Dean Paris had asked the KP Council for “assurance that the College would not find itself, yet again, in the midst of an embarrassing media storm.” (The Spectator, January 21, 2005; The Spectator, January 28, 2005; The Spectator, February 4, 2005; The Spectator, February 11, 2005; The Spectator, February 25, 2005; The Spectator, March 4, 2005; The Spectator, April 1, 2005)

Institutional Restructuring: From Kirkland Project to DSJP

In June 2005, President Stewart announced a formal restructuring of the Kirkland Project, revising its budget, governance structure, and name. A faculty committee review — the first formal review of the KP in its approximately nine-year existence — was conducted over the following academic year.

In spring 2006, the Kirkland Project was officially relaunched as the Diversity and Social Justice Project (DSJP). Civil rights leader Robert P. Moses ‘56 gave the inaugural address. The Spectator’s analysis noted that despite the new name and reformed governance, the four stated goals of the DSJP were “identical to the four goals of the KP” and “the mission of DSJP is a slenderized version of the mission of KP.” The DSJP received new office space and a revised statement of purpose. (The Spectator, September 2, 2005; The Spectator, September 9, 2005; The Spectator, March 31, 2006; The Spectator, April 28, 2006)

The Alexander Hamilton Center and the Balance Question (2006)

In fall 2006, the founding of the Alexander Hamilton Center for the Study of Western Civilization (AHC) was announced at a faculty meeting. The initiative was co-founded by Professor Robert Paquette (History), along with Professors Bradfield and Ambrose — developed in part from a 2003 sophomore seminar. The AHC was framed as a research initiative focused on Alexander Hamilton’s life and his historical concern with “economic versus political freedoms,” with a three-year programming plan touching on the meaning of freedom in the 19th century, the Second Great Awakening, abolitionism, and eminent domain.

The AHC’s announcement prompted faculty debate about whether it was being held to the same governance standards that had been imposed on the Kirkland Project after the 2005 crisis. Dean Urgo stated that the primary criterion for AHC programming would be “intellectual stature.” Professor Peter Rabinowitz (distinct from Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz) expressed concern about the speaker-selection criteria in the AHC charter. Paquette acknowledged the comparison directly, arguing that “whatever problems the Kirkland Project had, they should not be the principle on which other programs should be based.” The AHC hoped to begin formal programming in fall 2007. (The Spectator, September 8, 2006; The Spectator, September 15, 2006)

Aftermath and National Legacy (2009)

A 2009 retrospective in the Spectator noted that the Churchill essay that had provoked the Hamilton crisis “attracted little attention until he was invited to speak this week at Hamilton College” — establishing Hamilton as the inadvertent catalyst for a national conversation. The University of Colorado ultimately fired Churchill in 2007 for academic misconduct including plagiarism and falsified research; Churchill sued for wrongful termination and won his case in 2009. The Hamilton Spectator noted that “the scandal over academic dishonesty originated at Hamilton,” in the sense that Hamilton’s invitation had drawn national scrutiny to Churchill’s work, which then prompted the Colorado inquiry that uncovered the misconduct. At the 2005 faculty meeting, Professor Paquette had been among the first to publicly call Churchill a fraud. (The Spectator, April 9, 2009)

Open Questions

• How did the DSJP’s programming and public profile develop after its 2006 relaunch, and how was it received by faculty and students?
• Did the Alexander Hamilton Center survive as an active programming unit into the 2010s and beyond?
• Are there documented free speech controversies from the 1970s or early 1980s — particularly related to Kirkland College’s own programming?
• How does the Spectator’s editorial stance on free speech evolve across the corpus, particularly in relation to the post-2015 campus climate debates nationally?
• Were there any disinvitation controversies or speaker cancellations between the Paquette episode (1997) and the Rosenberg/Churchill crises (2004–2005)?
• What was the full scope of donor withdrawals and financial impact on Hamilton following the 2005 crisis?

Sources

Related Topics

• Faculty Governance and Academic Affairs
• Student Activism and Social Movements
• Coeducation and Kirkland College
• College Administration and Presidential Leadership

Related Entities

• Hamilton College
• Kirkland College