UVA Stories: Teresa Sullivan - Free Speech and the University

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UVA's Bicentennial Stories initiative from WTJU 91.1 FM tells our collective story. It helps us understand our shared history and make meaning in the University today. And as we look ahead, these stories help us shape the future of the University and our role in a democratic society. Teresa Sullivan, 8th President of UVA, 2010-2018 “I think it’s important that the university regulate the time, speech, and manner in which the speech occurs, but not what is actually said. “On the other hand, as an academic, we have a pretty thoroughgoing commitment to truth. When somebody says, ‘White supremacy should be the policy of the land,’ we also have the right to say, ‘No, that’s not true.’ “You have to be able to respond to what is objectionable, and if you cower and say we won’t allow them to say it because we’re afraid, you’re kind of conceding that you don’t think you have the high ground in the debate. I do not think that the people who were in the rally here last year have the high ground in the debate.”