Earlier today, during announcements, both US Division Head Bill Arnold and US French teacher Andreanne Annis, with the help of one of her classes, made short speeches. Both began by praising the “Je Suis Charlie” movement as a symbol of the importance of free speech, and both ended by noting the importance of Diversity Day this Friday. But there is an underlying hypocrisy in making both these announcements at the same time: the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in exercising its freedom of speech, was overtly offensive, even racist, towards a religious group, while Diversity Day is an event dedicated to explaining why we should not be offensive to those from other races and religions. The Upper School is sending two very contradictory messages: on one hand, they are advocating our right to openly express any idea we have, even if it is extremely offensive and disrespectful towards other races and religions, much like the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo; while on the other hand, they are telling us, through both Diversity Day and the video we watched during advisory (which advocated eliminating biases), that it is wrong and unacceptable to express such offensive speech.

That isn’t to say that what the terrorists did at Charlie Hebdo was justified; obviously, nothing justifies murder. But there is a distinct difference between condemning terrorism and openly advocating the kind of free speech the staff of Charlie Hebdo exercised – an extremely racist and offensive cartoon. That also isn’t to say that this type of speech should be suppressed, I’m simply making the point that you cannot have both; those who express highly offensive or racist ideas cannot be heroes on Tuesday but villains on Friday.

In sending this very mixed message, the school is not addressing controversial issues head on. Instead, it is trying to mold the single idea of freedom of expression to work in two very different ways.