O-Week speaker gives contentious diversity remarks
Suzanne Nossel, the former CEO of PEN America, a free speech organization, presented during Orientation Week about the importance of open dialogue and expression. During her presentation, several Community Facilitators walked off the stage.
Nossel took the podium last Tuesday as part of the “Diversity and Community at Rice Presentation,” an O-Week program spearheaded by the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence. She was invited by Alexander Byrd, the office’s vice provost. Incoming students were required to attend the event.
During her speech, Nossel provided examples of what she described as tolerance.
“A math teacher was teaching a class about oblique angles,” said Nossel, according to an excerpt of her speech she emailed the Thresher. “He reached his hand up straight and a little bit forward. Looking at it up there for a minute, he uttered the words ‘Heil Hitler.’ The students were taken aback.”
The teacher was then fired, Nossel said, but later context led to him being reinstated.
“The students were in the room and knew that the words had just fallen out of his mouth, essentially by accident,” Nossel’s excerpt read. “The school administrators needed to understand those things to fairly judge the speech.”
Nossel also cautioned new students to be aware of what they say during protests.
“If you’re protesting, think about what slogans you chant,” Nossel’s transcript read. “What do [the slogans] mean to you, and what might they mean to others. To an Israeli or a Palestinian student, or the child of an ICE agent or an undocumented immigrant, a victim of sexual assault, someone who aspires to be a cop.”
The purpose of this talk was to emphasize the importance of free dialogue and context, Nossel said. Kaz Nam, a Lovett College CF, wrote in a message in the college’s GroupMe that Nossel was problematic in her speech.
“The Diversity Presentation Speaker said some really problematic stuff,” Nam, a junior, wrote in their GroupMe message. “CFs warned rice [sic] staff this was a bad idea but they didn’t listen to us.”
In 2024, during her tenure as CEO of PEN America, she faced criticism regarding PEN’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Writers and activists accused the organization of failing to support Palestinian voices, highlighting Nossel’s previous pro-Israel statements. Nossel stepped down in October 2024, following the criticism. She denied that the war was the resignation’s impetus, according to AP news.
“I do not condone the speech whatsoever, but just make the point that once those who heard it — or heard about it — understood the intent and context their reaction to it changed,” Nossel wrote.
Despite the backlash, Byrd stood by his decision to have Nossel speak to freshmen.
“Suzanne Nossel’s experience at PEN America and her writings on free expression — ‘Dare To Speak’ and ‘Is Free Speech Under Threat?’ — made her well-suited to address the challenges of sustaining open dialogue in a diverse environment,” Byrd wrote in an email to the Thresher.
For new student Zaid Rashid, Nossel miscommunicated what he saw as respectable intentions.
“I understand the point she was trying to make,” said Rashid, a Lovett College freshman. “Free speech is a good thing, but the way she did it was really, really bad. It was the kind of opinion that values all opinions, when some opinions could be more harmful than others.”
The speech comes during a contentious time for diversity programming in higher education. CFs overhauled the language used in their diversity PowerPoint presentations, changing phrases such as “microaggressions” to “everyday slights.”
“Dr. Byrd asked us to meet, and we went over the guidelines that the legal council had given us,” Nam said. “We just needed to make sure specific phrases weren’t said, that it was framed in a particular way.”
While Nossel stressed the importance of conscientiousness, she acknowledged the difficulty of topics surrounding free speech.
“I begin by stressing an obligation of conscientiousness with language — being aware of the sensitivities of those to whom you are speaking and taking them into account as you choose how to express yourself,” she wrote. “I believe that is necessary in a diverse society.”
The one-sided nature of the speech also hindered some opportunities for dialogue, Nossel said.
“These issues are complex and that large setting did not allow an opportunity for comments or back-and-forth,” Nossel wrote.
More from The Rice Thresher
Dis-O, move-in weekend see increase in alcohol transports from last year
Rice’s first wet weekend of the year saw four times as many calls for intoxication-related transports of students to the hospital compared to the previous three years, according to emails sent out by college presidents and chief justices.
On-campus meal plan changed to unlimited swipes
Housing and Dining recently revealed a new dining plan for the upcoming semester. The required on-campus meal plan now has unlimited meal swipes, compared to 375 meal swipes last year. H&D said the previous on-campus meal plan was for students who intended to eat on campus 15 to 25 meals a week.
Rice Stadium student section relocated
The Rice Stadium student section has been relocated to sections 106 and 107, according to an announcement from Rice Athletics on X.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.