Today, freedom -- and the defense of it -- is needed more than ever, especially on our nation’s campuses.

The fundamental mission of formal learning is to provide a forum for students to discover who they are, why they’re here and where they want to go in life. These are formative years: times and places to learn, to be challenged, to grow and to make mistakes. Learning is enriched by what each individual student brings to that experience . . . if -- and only if -- that environment is free and open.

Today, precious few campuses can be described as such. As the purpose of learning is forgotten, ignored or denied, we are inundated daily with stories of administrators and faculty manipulating the marketplaces of ideas.

Take what recently happened to a student at Arkansas State University. She wanted to recruit for a student organization she was founding, but soon learned it first had to be approved by the university. Even then, she still had to apply for a permission slip to distribute materials.

And all of the activity had to occur within the confines of a “speech zone,” typically obscure, small, cordoned-off corners of campus where free expression is “permitted.” These so-called “free speech zones” are popping up on campuses across the country, but they’re not at all free. . . . .

. . . Too many administrators have been complicit in creating or facilitating a culture that makes it easier for the “heckler” to win. One prevalent way is when administrators charge students exorbitant fees to host an event or speaker they arbitrarily deem “controversial.” This way, administrators can duck accusations of censorship based on content and instead claim that reasonable “time, place and manner” restrictions are appropriate. . . .

. . . Administrators too often attempt to shield students from ideas they subjectively decide are “hateful” or “offensive” or “injurious” or ones they just don’t like. This patronizing practice assumes students are incapable of grappling with, learning from or responding to ideas with which they disagree.