Freedom of speech is a bedrock principle throughout the Western world, but increasingly it is being challenged — on college campuses, among intellectuals and in politics — in the name of preventing “hate” speech or offensive speech, or protecting allegedly “marginalized” groups. Why is this happening, and what does it mean for the future of free speech?

In this panel discussion (sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute and the University of Pennsylvania chapters of the Federalist Society, the American Constitution Society and the Adam Smith Society), three leading figures in this field address the current threats to this fundamental right in the United States and the free world: Flemming Rose, author of The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech and former editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten; Steve Simpson, director of Legal Studies, Ayn Rand Institute, and editor of Defending Free Speech; and Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, New York Law School, and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Image: benjaminec via Shutterstock.com.