Freedom of speech on college campuses

Guests: George Ciccariello-Maher, Matt Lamb and Jonathan Zimmerman

With his Christmas eve tweet – “all I want for Christmas is white genocide” — Drexel professor GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER has created a social media firestorm. Ciccariello-Maher says the tweet was intended to be a satirical response to white supremacy, but it was quickly condemned by conservative critics to be racist and hateful. In an official statement, Drexel University called the professor’s comments to be “utterly reprehensible.” In the intervening days, Ciccariello-Maher’s name has appeared on Professor Watchlist, a project of Turning Point USA which aggregates information about faculty members who allegedly “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The incident has raised serious questions about freedom of speech, political correctness and the use of social media on college campuses. We’ll start off the hour talking to Drexel professor George Ciccariello-Maher. Then we’ll get responses from MATT LAMB, Director of Constitutional Enforcement and Transparency for Turning Point USA and University of Pennsylvania history of education professor JONATHAN ZIMMERMAN.