Last week, Middlebury College in Vermont was engulfed in protesters. Libertarian Charles Murray was invited by a group of students to speak about his recent book, Coming Apart. However, he’s better known for his controversial book The Bell Curve, which suggests that white people inherently have higher IQs than black people, a major reason why many students protested. Despite his attempts to address his audience, he was shouted off stage by protesters, and eventually the protest turned ugly resulting in minor injuries. Now the small private college is at the center of a national debate over the clash between two First Amendment rights – the right to voice an opinion and the right to protest. Jay Parini, an English professor who attended the rally, joins Soledad O’Brien to discuss the ongoing challenge of respecting all kinds of free speech and their implications for the rest of the country.
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