Should Tolerance Include the Advocacy of Intolerance?

I tend to be an advocate for old-fashioned tolerance -- that is where everyone has a voice and we're all civil enough to allow each other the opportunity to be heard. We don't necessarily agree with one another, but after one person has an opportunity to speak nonsense, somebody else gets to rebut them -- all civilly, of course. One of my favorite Jefferson quotes is -- "Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." If we'd all just realize that free speech and thinking about ideas is not something to be feared, we'd be much better off personally and as a society. Reason will normall will out.

Specifically concerning tenure for university professors who hold radical ideas -- freedom isn't free. If we choose to hold nutball ideas, we may face consequences for our personal choices. If we choose to express those nutball ideas in our college classroom (where the audience is captive and impressionable) we choose to forego the protection of tenure. I'm personally not a fan of tenure anyway. I think it negates merit and allows philosophical bullies to remain uncontrolled in the classroom agains the wishes of those who pay their salaries (usually, the parents and taxpayers), but if you're going to use the classroom as a bully-pulpit, then you shouldn't be given tenure based upon your behavior in the classroom. Simple as that!