Bunn, Matthew

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Civility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/civility-and-speech-in-the-modern-university-200-years-ago-in-germany/[6/15/2020 9:50:09 AM]"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William FaulknerNOT EVEN PAST     THE PUBLIC HISTORIANMore from The Public HistorianBOOKSMore BooksDIGITAL HISTORYCivility and Speech in the ModernUniversity, 200 Years Ago inGermanyby Matthew BunnCivility may appear in short supply in today’s political environment, but “civility” as a standard for policingspeech is currently in the headlines. For U.S. universities, the turmoil in recent years over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has renewed calls for civility, not as a voluntary norm of speech, but as a criterion forpunishing speakers. As Ali Abunimah writes, “civility crackdowns are now breaking out across thecountry.”On September 9, Inside Higher Education reported that a memo from UC-Berkeley Chancellor NicholasDirks had incited outrage both among the faculty and online commentators for suggesting that freespeech was contingent upon its “civility.” As Dirks said, “simply put, courteousness and respect in wordsand deeds are basic preconditions to any meaningful exchange of ideas.” For critics of Dirks, it is not thatcivility is undesirable so much as the implication that uncivil speech forfeits free speech protections thathas them upset.Dirks issued his call for civility in light of the controversy that erupted when UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wiserescinded a tenured job offer to Prof. Steven Salaita. As word of Salaita’s case spread through academia,a growing chorus of voices denounced the firing as a violation of academic freedom. At issue were aseries of tweets, in which Salaita expressed hostility to Israeli military actions in Gaza that some criticsdenounced as anti-Semitic.As Wise’s recent statements have revealed, she acted under pressure from major donors to UIUC whoprotested Salaita’s hiring, and the Board of Trustees notified Wise they would not approve the hiring, evenas such approval is normally pro forma. Pressured on the other side by academic boycotts and lettersfrom prominent scholars, Wise eventually forwarded the appointment to the Trustees, who voted 8-1 onSeptember 11 to reject Salaita’s appointment.L’affaire Salaita has reignited debates about the role of academic freedom, employers’ power to policeemployees’ speech, and the status accorded social media communication. Yet as relevant as newplatforms like Twitter are to contemporary cases, conflict over the rights and responsibilities of academics’public speech are as old as the modern research university itself. In fact, looking back two centuries agoand a continent away sheds surprising light on current issues.Historians generally agree that the modern research oriented university originated in Germany in the earlynineteenth century. The University of Berlin, now known as Humboldt University, was the first to require Like 69TweetMaking History: Houston’s “Spirit of theConfederacy”May 06, 2020America for Americans: A History ofXenophobia in the United States byErika Lee (2019)April 20, 2020Más de 72: Digital Archive ReviewBOOKS FILMS & MEDIA THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN BLOG TEXAS ABOUTSTUDENTSOUR/STORIES15 MINUTE HISTORYCivility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/civility-and-speech-in-the-modern-university-200-years-ago-in-germany/[6/15/2020 9:50:09 AM]More from Digital HistoryFILMS & MEDIAMore from Films & MediaTEXASMore from Texasthe defense of a piece of original research—the dissertation—to grant Ph.D degrees. Along the way,German universities pioneered research seminars, methods of primary source research, and otherfeatures of the modern research institution. German methods spread internationally once Germanuniversities became magnets for foreign, especially American students.“The Thinkers’ Club (1819). A famous caricature refers to the Carlsbad Decrees, which were implemented at the behest ofClemens Prince von Metternich. The decrees suppressed nationalist, liberal student fraternities and imposed tightrestrictions on freedom of expression. The sign reads: “Important question to be considered in today’s meeting: How longwill we be allowed to think?”Yet this period of German intellectual flowering also coincided with significant tension between theuniversities and the monarchical states. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the princes of centralEurope set about stabilizing their power after decades of war and revolution. Universities were hotbeds ofpolitical, religious, and intellectual ferment. Student fraternities, often mentored by radical professors,became leading exponents of the cause of German national unity and constitutional government. Since allGerman professors were government employees, though, they faced grave risks to their careers forsupporting the political opposition. A generation of scholars was blacklisted from German universities inthe 1820s, while others labored under constant police supervision and censorship.German governments had a hard time disciplining their unruly professors for many of the same reasonsthat modern university administrators like those at UIUC do: organized pushback from the faculty andallies in the press. When Wise withdrew Salaita’s offer, she faced withering criticism, including multiple noconfidence votes from university faculty. Similarly, when Duke Ernst August fired seven professors at theUniversity of Göttingen in 1837 for publishing a letter critical of his violation of the constitution, theGerman public sphere erupted in protest. Both causes galvanized supporters following the cases in thepress, drawing the focus away from the content of the speech and towards the rights of academics toexpress unpopular or inconvenient ideas.When it came to policing speech, German governments had a difficult time making hard and fast rules.For that reason, they tended to issue general guidelines about what writers could not attack—the securityof the state, the Christian religion, and the personal honor of state officials—and left it to censors todecide what to allow, alter, or ban outright.Left to their own devices, censors struggled to justify their decisions on the basis of laws or specificMarch 16, 2020Ayka (Dir: Sergei Dvortsevoy, 2018)October 02, 2019A (Queer) Rebel Wife In TexasMarch 11, 2020Civility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/civility-and-speech-in-the-modern-university-200-years-ago-in-germany/[6/15/2020 9:50:09 AM]textual references. In many cases, censors banned works not only on the basis of content, but also themanner of presentation, which they called its “tendency”—essentially the tone of the work.Here we see the affinity with contemporary demands for “civility.” Censors latched onto the idea ofcensoring tone because of how tricky it is to specify just which words or ideas are off limits. With reason,censors believed that passion, emotion, and humor made ideas more powerful to readers, and thus moredangerous. Appropriate writing was dry, objective, even-handed—“civil” in a bloodless sort of way. Angerand mockery, irrespective of the validity or merit of the argument, were to be discouraged.The problem for censors, though, is that judging a writer’s tone is more subjective than simply looking forforbidden words or ideas. Authors like Heinrich Heine made a name for themselves by mocking the folliesof authorities through sophisticated literary tactics. Moreover, censors—like modern day collegeadministrators—were condemned for allowing their own personal judgments and prejudices to color theirdecision making.Heinrich Heine (1837)Critics of censorship seized upon this subjectivity to argue that censorship was unworkable andintrinsically unfair, simply a way for powerful people to silence speech they personally did not like. Criticslike the radical author Gustav Struve argued that censors simply cut anything well-written enough tobecome popular with the public, while philosopher Arnold Ruge lamented that censors would cut in onemoment what they permit in another, all on the basis of personal whim.In nineteenth-century Germany, ideas of universal rights of free speech were new and not widespread,but among professors and university-educated elites, the defense of academic freedom was better knownand more widely supported. As a result, the cause of professors and scholars was often the mostly loudlytrumpeted when it came to challenging censorship.Facing criticism from an increasingly active public sphere, German governments protested that theyrespected academic freedom and the freedom of speech, but only within limits. Here again, tone andcivility were key for justifying censorship. When the Prussian government issued revised censorshipregulations in 1842, Karl Marx immediately attacked them, in his first published writing no less, as“pseudo-liberalism.”Civility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/civility-and-speech-in-the-modern-university-200-years-ago-in-germany/[6/15/2020 9:50:09 AM]19th century 20th Century African American History american history Asia Asia & Middle East book review Brazil British Empire NOT EVEN PAST is produced byThe Department of HistoryTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN We are supported by the College of Liberal ArtsSign up to receive bi-weekly email updatesKarl Marx (1875)Demanding that scholarly writings be “earnest and modest,” the Prussian government in Marx’s viewimposed on scholars’ work conditions that had nothing whatsoever to do with truth. The tone of a work,Marx noted, is dictated by the nature of the subject—ridiculous things ought not be taken seriously,serious injustices not protested modestly.Civility as a conversational virtue has much to recommend it. The enforcement of civility, however,especially among classes like academics particularly inclined to advance challenging ideas, should makeus recall how the use of “tone” as a criteria for controlling discussion works. As the example of nineteenth-century German intellectuals suggests, what may appear an effort to reign in abusive language canquickly become a powerful tool for the suppression of speech. Let us all be civil—and accepting of a littleincivility too.Images via Wikimedia CommonsPosted September 15, 2014More 1800s, Blog, Education, Europe, Ideas/Intellectual HistoryCivility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany - Not Even Pasthttps://notevenpast.org/civility-and-speech-in-the-modern-university-200-years-ago-in-germany/[6/15/2020 9:50:09 AM]China Civil War Cold War Colonialism communism cultural history digital history Early Modern Europe Europe film gender history History of Science immigration India Islam Latin America Latin American History Mexico Not Even Past Public History race religion Russia slavery Texas Texas History Texas History Day Transnational Twentieth Century History United States US History USSR Womens History world history World War IIAnd our READERSDONATECONTACTAll content © 2010-present NOT EVEN PAST and the authors,unless otherwise notedBOOKS FILMS & MEDIA THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN BLOG TEXAS

Civility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany

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Civility and Speech in the Modern University, 200 Years Ago in Germany

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