Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech

University of Houston Student Suspended And Required To Attend Cultural Events For Writing “All Lives Matter”

Unknown-1The University of Houston has offered the latest example of how free speech is being rapidly eradicated on our campuses. Rohini Sethi, vice president of the university’s student government association, was given a 50-day suspension from her student government post for saying “all lives matter” on social media. She has now been told that the suspension will be lifted after she publicly apologized and agreed to attend cultural events.

Sethi originally wrote “#ForgetBlackLivesMatter; more like AllLivesMatter.” This was done in response to the murder of five police officers. She was immediately denounced as racist and various students claimed that she had created a hostile environment by stating her viewpoint. Student government President Shane Smith responded with the draconian measures.

Now, Sethi will be allowed to return after a type of public confession that seemed more appropriate to a reeducation camp than an American campus. Sethi issued a joint statement with Smith that said that “I have chosen to take these steps on my own because of the division I’ve created among our student body,. I may have the right to post what I did, but I still should not have. My words at the time didn’t accurately convey my feeling and cause many students to lose their faith in me to advocate for them. I will always continue to learn and be ready to discuss these issues.”

So she has the right to speak but will be sanctioned if she does?

Smith is qouted in the Washington Post as saying:

“Her post and subsequent actions were very divisive. It caused some in our student body to become very upset with her. They lost faith in her ability to represent them because they felt that she did not understand or respect the struggles in their lives.”

Smith actually apologized to those who wanted more of a sanction, writing “For those that are disappointed by the change, this is a compromise based in the reality of the situation. My stance on racial injustice has always been clear. For all involved, this is truly the best outcome.” No, I do not believe it is the best outcome. The best outcome would be to respect the right of all students to speak freely.

We have previously discussed (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) the erosion of free speech on college and university campuses as students and faculty are punished for expressing views deemed offensive to any group. In the meantime, we have also seen protests by Black Lives Matter and other groups that silence other students with little response from university administrators.

The controversy of University of Houston shows how schools are now instilling speech regulation as an accepted part of academic environments. The result is a new generation of students taught that they must conform to majoritarian or official views if they want to be educated or avoid sanctions. The primary responsibility for this rollback on free speech rests with the faculty and administrators of our schools, who have often supported such notion of speech as “microaggressions” or hostile acts under school codes.

While Sethi originally stood by her comments, she has now been brought to heel under a de facto speech code. None of this has anything to do with the merits of the rivaling views on the use of “All Lives Matter.” It deals with the right of students to engage in an open debate on such issues. I recently spoke with a student at Missouri (groundzero for the controversy over Melissa Click), for example, who told me that he no longer felt that he could even raise concerns over the demands of “Black Lives Matter” at his school. Despite his support for measures to fight inequality and racism, he said that students no longer felt that they could question even the list of demands being made by the group. This is someone who supports the effort to reform aspects of his school but still fears speaking about the issues. He noted that his faculty has also been silenced in the aftermath of the controversy. His experience is not unique as faculty and staff have succeeded in chilling the speech of those with questions or opposing views on our campuses.

127 thoughts on “University of Houston Student Suspended And Required To Attend Cultural Events For Writing “All Lives Matter””

  1. Autumn, Thanks. I read about this despicable scene but seeing it says it all.

  2. The chant, ‘Black lives matter’, is a result of the issues of police profiling and discrimination which is adequately illustrated in the media. This discrimination has been surfaced and is being addressed. However when the chant seems to separate Black from White with its lack of specificity then a similar ‘All lives matter’ is no different and in fact is supported by the generalization of ‘Black lives matter’. In essence if ‘Black lives matter’ can be accepted in its umbrella form then it supports and reinforces, ‘All lives matter’. What we have here along with a kangaroo court of pathetic and spineless officials is basic, unadulterated, and disgusting hypocrisy.

    What we also have is an affront to the sensibilities of Blacks and their plight as is illustrated by police profiling and discrimination. However, ‘Black lives matter’ set the rules, therefore ‘All lives matter’, regardless of it use to address the sensationalism of ‘Black lives matter’, theoretically should be accepted. Unfortunately Sethi did not put it forth in that vain. She put it forth in such a way to diminish the plight of Blacks. ‘Forget Black lives matter….’

    Sethi was self serving in her statements, whether as an emotional knee jerk reaction to the killings of the officers, to garner attention, make a splash, or whatever. However, the manner in which it was addressed by the establishment compounded the problems found in the exchange, now between Blacks and Whites or All. Taking sides is the last thing the administration of a university should be doing in a case like this. The essence of a university is for a forum to take place where all may express their opinions, kind of like why universities were developed in the first place, if not uniquely then equally.

    Sethi may have been wanting in her post but the university has let down its students with its reaction, students of all races, religions, etc. Freedom of speech, betraying an essential purpose, all of the above.

  3. The thing that bothers me most is that the principle issue of the terrible misuse of Police and Official Power is lost in the argument over what language to use. Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter both mean that we have a problem with the extreme abuse of power by the police and the judicial system in this country. If I were one to believe in evil masterminds exercising control over the populous I can not imagine a more effective distraction than this insane debate over terms which have totally complimentary goals.

  4. Saying “All Lives Matter” is forbidden because it is not true that all lives matter equally. Some lives, especially black lives, matter more than all the others. Of course civil rights education is required for saying that all lives matter. On the Animal Farm all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Blacks deserve not to be shot by policeman for being black. Any time a Black dies at the hands of a white policeman it is racism until proved otherwise and all whites are to be blamed. Any time a White policeman is killed by a Black it is understood as fighting racism. Blacks deserve to be admitted to college regardless of grades because of racism. Whites are successful because of racism. All racist Whites deserve to die. So no, not “All Lives Matter.”

  5. I always chuckle that almost all the fascist liberals[not all are fascists] here avoid these many PC posts by JT. I have learned you can often learn more by what people DON’T say or do than by what they actually say or do.

  6. Steve, I read a piece in the NYT’s[hard copy in coffee shop for free!] recently that donations are down @ many colleges because of this PC. YES, the NYT’s. They focused on Amherst and went in depth w/ some older donors. The older donors are the ones w/ the bucks. This is not about money. These diminished donations has been going on for a while. I do agree if the losses increase in amounts, eventually this unconstitutional crap change might change. But, it has become entrenched.

  7. @igpres

    re: “She may have come to see her words as inappropriate for her position.” Inappropriate. I have started to view that adjective as a joke – it’s been used too often by the snowflakes.

  8. We must be reading the Constitution incorrectly, the “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.” The pc correctness crowd are clearly reading the Constitution to mean the Congress can’t suppress free speech but everyone else can.

    I wonder if all of those that fought and died to protect free speech have done so in useless causes to protect a document that is becoming daily more irrelevant.

  9. I would just like to point out that not all BLM people are racist or wish to limit free speech.

    Like any other organization it has been infiltrated by bad actors. Hmm, I wonder if HRC is funding them?? We do know that Clinton surrogate Soros is:

    http://www.theamericanmirror.com/blacklivesmatter-leader-deray-lives-home-owned-by-soros-connected/

    This event upstage by the bad BLM actors was shocking. Good news is that prez of DePaul was forced to resign.

  10. Student government? Yes. Let’s also have an inmate government at asylums. The military needs an enlisted government to pass judgement on the actions of senior officers. What else? Oh, yes. Every major corporation needs an employee government which reviews all actions of management. Let’s not forget the convict government in prisons.

  14. I think – based on the facts you report – that it makes a difference that the sanctions came from the Student body president, and not the school administration. She was an officer of that group, and it has its own guidelines about how its officers are to promote its interests. I disapprove of all “speech codes”. But, while I agree that the sanctions were wrong, I’m not a student there. Her expressed thoughts did in fact affect how the student body felt about its leaders. That’s why I don’t hold her retreat as just caving in. She may have come to see her words as inappropriate for her position.

  15. I am a 1976 graduate of the University of Houston law school. It is a public university. As a long-time member of the ACLU, I cannot comprehend the suppression of the exchange of ideas that speech codes cause. The ideal of free speech is that it is available to all, not just those who are in a position of authority or those with influence. The real test of free speech is when someone says something with which I vehemently disagree (though I agree that all lives should matter). Where are the free speech advocates from the University of Houston Law Center? Have they stopped teaching constitutional law there since I graduated?

  17. Having just got home after 500 miles of driving for a business trip, I will be terse and succinct. Rohini Sethi should have walked out of the meeting and told them they can have their kangaroo court and this dog and pony student government. Once liberated from these snowflakes, Rohini can enjoy liberty while preparing for a lifetime ahead; free of such petty tyrants.

    But then again I never had any use for student government, it’s just a waste of time. But there are those who innately need inane drama in their lives so I suppose student government provides a vital service to them.

  19. As I keep saying, the US is dead.
    We are not heading toward liberal fascism, we are now well within it.

    The binding fascia will become tighter, the heretics paraded more often, the punishments will be more draconian, the demands will increase.

    My prediction:
    1. Whites, especially white males, will be disallowed from certain campuses this year, first as teachers and speakers, then as students. White students are already being shunned from certain dorms.
    2. Strange white fruit will appear.
    3. See Kipling.

  20. Is that so called university a public or private “institution”? It sounds kind of like a state mental hospital.

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