Pitt students need to stop silencing each other

We like to think of our university as a safe haven for freedom of thought and opinion. We thought wrong, and we have no one but ourselves to blame.

We here at Pitt are members of an American university. This should mean that it is part of our duty as students to uphold our country’s ideals as an example of public American society. There’s just one problem- we’re failing.

This year, my generation has been rocked by a political atmosphere so toxic that the phrase “agree to disagree” isn’t part of our lexicon anymore. It seems we’ve begun to value our own right to an opinion over that of our fellow students, and this has consequences we need to deal with. Let’s not mince words- we is referring to the students and need to stop silencing people we disagree with.

Think back to April 13^th of this year, because it perfectly illustrates what should be happening on a college campus. If you were a student at Pitt, chances are you were spending that sunny Wednesday trying to figure out the easiest way to get to your next class without having to pass by Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. Throngs of people lined the streets outside of the museum, waiting to get a glimpse of Donald Trump while he participated in a Town Hall meeting.

Supporters and protesters alike voiced their opinions freely and forcefully. Yes, there was tension between the two groups, but debate doesn’t always have to be pretty or pleasant. It just needs to be fair, and this was certainly fair. Both sides were able to speak, representing what American free speech is all about.

Now ask yourself, what if Trump hadn’t been able to come in the first place? Some students at this university would be fine with that. There was a petition circling among students to ban Trump from campus in the days leading up to that event, and it seems we’ve caused a shift in the political leanings of our university.

All around campus last spring students said Trump shouldn’t even be allowed to come to Pitt because his particular brand of rhetoric was too much to tolerate. This line of thinking gets us nowhere. Now it’s not usually professional for the author to inject himself into the story, but it feels necessary that a few points are mentioned. I am by no means a Trump supporter. I find his views regressive and his attitude unbecoming of a leader. I don’t want him to be president, and I won’t vote for him. But I’ll be damned if he can’t express all the vague promises and insensitive remarks he wants to present to the public.

Trump and his supporters have the same right to free speech as those with gentler ideals. An attitude that those whom we simply disagree with are in some way not entitled to this right is more damaging that most students realize, and it is simply unacceptable from people who are careening toward true adulthood.