An invaluable part of intellectual (and personal) growth comes from having the freedom to express your own ideas, and to engage with the ideas of others.

Truman State University has rejected a student’s request to start an animal-rights club — due, in part, to worries about the “emotional risk” of potentially “hostile” confrontations.

The school reportedly also had concerns about the “reputational risk” of the proposed group being associated with PETA, according to a release published by the pro-free-speech group, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.