Last Tuesday, Chicago Thinker Co-Founder and former Senior Editor Gerrin Alexander appeared as a guest in an interview with Maxwell Nosbich of the First Amendment Museum to discuss the First Amendment, the political and intellectual climate at UChicago, and her experience as a conservative on campus.
Alexander expressed the importance of cultivating an academic environment that allows for open inquiry and participation, noting that at the University of Chicago the “curriculum that we’re learning is heavily skewed towards leftists.” She explained that she was inspired to join the founding editorial board of the Thinker in part to contribute to this goal. After losing friends because of her political views, she sought to “empower [her]self and then empower other people to step forward.”
To this point, she noted in the interview, “I think any time we engage in political discourse, it should always be about what are the facts of the matter and understanding people’s viewpoints on how they took that evidence and [arguing] it. Not attacking your character for believing something.”
Alexander, who was featured in a Newsweek piece titled “Meet the Young, Black Conservatives Who Are Stumping for Trump—Despite the Backlash,” and a Fox News panel in which she discussed her 2020 election vote with women from across the aisle, is no stranger to open political discussion and cordial disagreement.
Alexander also expressed concerns that the history of the First Amendment is not being properly understood within the context of the Founders’ intentions, which she argues our society has “lost touch” with.
When asked how she uses her First Amendment freedoms in her everyday life, Alexander pointed to her ability to freely practice and express her Christian faith, which she described as “the very foundation of [her] being.”
Alexander and Nosbich also discussed concerns with Big Tech silencing voices and limiting access to the exchange of information.
As a recent UChicago graduate, the issue of Big Tech censorship is close to Alexander, who is a member of Georgetown Law Center on National Security’s recently launched National Security & Technology Incubator & High Level Task Force. The task force was convened to “address future threats in the social media landscape and emanating from emerging technologies.”
