Ulrich Baer, University Professor, New York University

Ulrich Baer was educated at Harvard and Yale and has been awarded John Simon Guggenheim, DAAD, Paul Getty, and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships. He is University Professor at New York University, and has published, among other books, Remnants of Song: The Experience of Modernity in Charles Baudelaire and Paul Celan, Spectral Evidence: The Photography of Trauma, The Rilke Alphabet, 110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11(editor), Beggar's Chicken: Stories from Shanghai, We Are But a Moment, and, as editor and translator, The Dark Interval: Rilke's Letters on Loss, Grief and Transformation, and Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters on Life (Modern Library). His podcast, Think About It, is devoted to in-depth conversations on powerful ideas, including freedom of speech, and language that changes the world. He lives in New York City.

"Anyone who regards student protestors as over-sensitive, over-privileged narcissists will be moved by Ulrich Baer's new book to think again. Baer explains with great patience why the right to free speech rings hollow unless conditions of equality are in place. Students forced to listen to speakers who implicitly deny 'the worth of their existence' will not feel empowered by the so-called 'marketplace of ideas'; they will feel confused by a university that rejects obsolete and disproven ideas in the classroom but welcomes them when they are retailed by professional provocateurs. Baer's argument is a powerful counter to the First Amendment pieties proclaimed by both liberals and conservatives." - Stanley Fish, author of The First: How to Think About Hate Speech, Campus Speech, Religious Speech, Fake News, and Donald Trump

"Baer's in-depth, impassioned analysis highlights the fundamental issues that are at stake in the debates about campus speech. He shows that these debates reflect not only a clash of legal principles and a generational conflict, but also crucial questions about the mission of the university. Even those who do not agree with his conclusions will do well to consider his forceful case for further reflection and his proposals for action." - Nadine Strossen, Immediate Past President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it With Free Speech, Not Censorship

"Baer's book is a spirited and forceful defense of a position far too often mocked, caricatured, or dismissed. Even those who disagree with Baer's views about contemporary campus controversies are well-advised to think carefully and open-mindedly about his examples, his arguments, and his timely analysis." - Frederick Schauer, University of Virginia, and author of The Force of Law

"In a powerful, highly nuanced, and well-reasoned analysis, Baer draws on his experience a multidisciplinary scholar and senior university administrator to cut through conventional slogans and pieties. After thoroughly exposing the contradictions of free speech absolutism, both on the right and on the left, and debunking the political correctness mantra, Baer makes a strong and compelling case for the university inextricably linking free speech to equality as the bedrock of its contemporary mission. Baer's book is an essential contribution to our understanding of the current culture wars over campus speech and to the momentous challenges that it poses to our citizenry." - Michel Rosenfeld, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University