Is freedom of speech dying on today's college campuses?
Video at the source link.
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Is freedom of speech dying on today's college campuses?
April 17, 8:38 PM · 1 comment
It used to be that college campuses in America were a place to discuss diverse points of view - a place where the freedom to share your opinions on a variety of issues was not only permitted, but actually encouraged. If ever there was a place where the Constitutional protection of an individual's right to freedom of speech was nearly absolute, it was at our institutes of higher learning.
Sadly, recent events at the University of North Carolina seem to indicate that college campuses are no longer considered a place for the free exchange of ideas, particularly ideas that might be considered politically incorrect.
Congressman Tom Tancredo, the former representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district, had been invited to the college to practice his first amendment rights by speaking out in opposition to the "DREAM Act," a piece of legislation that would make it easier for illegal aliens to obtain in-state tuition and other benefits at state colleges and universities.
Outside, there were groups who had assembled to express their disapproval of Representative Tancredo's opinion on the subject, a practice that is totally within their free speech rights, but then they decided to move their protest inside the building, causing a dangerous confrontation. Still, objections were being held outside of the room where the congressman was going to speak, but when a portion of that group took their objections inside the room where Mr. Tancredo was about to speak, causing a major disruption to those who wanted to hear his views, they stepped over the line of acceptable behavior in an attempt to stifle his free speech rights.
I'm not exactly sure how screaming over the voices of others is holding a "dialog," but I guess that's what they are teaching in colleges these days.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of irrational behavior from those who desire to "dialog with love." After this group of "free speech believers" were escorted from the room, Congressman Tancredo would be interrupted again and a group of "tolerant" thinkers who went on to break a window and effectively shutting him down, and causing the event to end without the congressman being allowed to speak.
While the university offered a well-deserved apology, the question remains, what ever happened to free speech on college campuses? There was a time when political correctness would be laughed off of a state college campus, but in today's left-leaning universities, that appears to be the only sort of speech permitted.
The fact that this group of people demonstrated nothing but rude, crude and socially unacceptable behavior is really a secondary concern. The real issue is the death of one of America's greatest protections under the Bill of Rights. I fear for the next generation when they aren't taught that these rights belong to everyone, even those who might be considered "right-wing" or "politically incorrect."
I know Ward Churchill and Bill Ayers appreciated the opportunity to give their thoughts at a recent event held at Colorado University called “Forbidden Education and the Rise of Neo-McCarthyism" - an event used to protest Mr. Churchill's termination from the university some time ago. This despite the fact that there were questions about Ward Churchill's credentials and Mr. Ayers past as a domestic terrorist. They were permitted to speak, because that's what a country with the freedom of speech should allow to happen.
It's too bad that the students in North Carolina are either too immature or too ignorant to know that.
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