Prof Faizan Mustafa: Free Speech Essential for Law Student Training

Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Faizan Mustafa said on Monday that law students can't be trained in the art of argument when their freedom of speech is curbed.He added that law students and law schools, in his assessment, allow their students considerably greater freedom of expression than Vice-Chancellors of traditional universities typically permit."I am absolutely clear that since law students are going to defend liberties of others, they are to be trained in this art of making an argument and you cannot train them in the art of argument by curbing their freedom of speech in terms of speaking, in terms of making cartoons, or in terms of every other expression," he said.Prof Mustafa was speaking at a webinar titled Freedom of speech in law schools, hosted by The Hindu. He was responding to a question on recent convocation row at the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law and its subsequent fallout. He was also asked how he would have reacted had his own students opposed the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as chief guest at their convocation.NALSAR students cite CJI Surya Kant's inaction over police atrocities, seek reconsideration as convocation chief guestHe began by clarifying that he did not wish to comment specifically on an institution he led for a decade, but said that he generally responds to students within minutes whenever they write to him. He recalled his time as a student at Aligarh Muslim Univer