Some people go about spouting ideas "extremely corrosive to public policy," but protesters on college campuses are making a tactical mistake in trying to shut down disfavored speakers, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said last week in Washington, D.C.



"I think it's dangerous to suppress speech," Warren said. "Instead of shutting up individuals with disgusting views, it becomes a launching pad to national attention. Bigots and white supremacists can make themselves out to be First Amendment martyrs and grow their audiences."



She added, "And second, suppression suggests weakness, It makes us sound afraid, that we're afraid we can't defeat evil ideas with good ideas."



The observation hit the mark in light of recent revelations that Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House Chief Strategist encouraged alt-right lightning rod Milo Yiannopoulos to book speaking events at colleges around the country just to incite backlash, because the often distasteful anger and extreme reaction the (often cancelled) events provoked among opponents made the issue seem like a clear win for conservatives in Bannon's perceived culture war.



Said Warren, "Students can critique, they can make their voices heard and they can be very powerful when they do. Free speech is not about violence, it is not about silence. What I am concerned about, right now, is it is all to easy for all of us to avoid hearing anything that we don't already agree with, and that is an enormous threat to our democracy."



The senator offered these comments at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday.



The subject of the hearing -- attended by a number of professors at colleges where protests of speakers have occurred -- was the debate concerning free speech on college campuses around the nation.



Allison Stranger, a political science professor at Middlebury College, addressed Warren at the hearing.



During an out-of-control student protest of conservative author Charles Murray on March 2, Stranger -- the event moderator -- suffered whiplash and a concussion.



In her comments, Warren characterized Murray as a peddler of "racist, junk science about how white men are intellectually superior to everyone else."



Stranger "respectfully" disagreed with this characerization, and went on to say the college's political science department had co-sponsored his talk -- as opposed to Yiannopoulos and others who coordinate planned speaking events at colleges almost always with student groups.



"We (invited Murray) because we're almost all Democrats and we thought it was important for our students to engage with views that are influential in the Republican Party," Stranger said. "What proceeded to happen is another department on Middlebury's campus -- Sociology/Anthropology -- sought to censor the Political Science Department," and helped to incite opposing students.



She added, "There's a public/private distinction here that needs to be made. At public universities, I think we're seeing these provocateurs seeking to set up talks that don't really have faculty sponsorship. So, let the faculty lead and, I think, we'll go in the right direction."



The debate will no doubt continue. On Tuesday, authorities arrested at least eight people at Cal State Fullerton during a protest of a Yiannopoulos speaking event.