Former Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger on the importance of free speech

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PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24
From the show
Perspective
Reading time 1 min

The former president of Columbia University in New York, which was at the centre of sometimes violent protests against the war in Gaza, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the importance of free speech and how universities have to teach it. Lee C. Bollinger is president emeritus of Columbia University; he ran it until just a year before the protests broke out. The university has long been known as a bastion of freedom of expression in the United States.

Bollinger has now written a book, "University: A Reckoning", which looks at the wider picture of free speech and political interference in US universities. He spoke to us in Perspective.