We have been discussing the erosion of free speech on our campuses across the country through speech codes and increasingly violent protests. Conservative speakers are now routined denied the opportunity to speak on campuses by university officials who cite security concerns or by mob action preventing events from occurring. The latest example is Ann Coulter whose speech was cancelled at the last minute by the university even though she agreed to additional conditions set by officials. Coulter however pledges to show up to speak regardless of the decision. That could produce a confrontation with the university in its continued failure to protect free speech on its campus.
We have been discussing the rising intolerance and violence on college campuses, particularly against conservative speakers. (Here and here and here and here). Berkeley has been the focus of much concern over mob rule on our campuses as violent protesters have succeeded in silencing speakers. Both students and some faculty have maintained the position that they have a right to silence those with whom they disagree and even student newspapers have declared opposing speech to be outside of the protections of free speech. At another University of California campus, professors actually rallied around a professor who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display.
Coulter has a legitimate grievance with Berkeley and, even if they disagree with her conservative views, both professors and students should be defending her right to speak and the right of others to hear her. A college Republican group invited Coulter to speak but university officials declared that her appearance on campus was too dangerous in light of past protests. That is yielding to the heckler’s veto. The university is rewarding the mob by barring any speakers with whom they may disagree.
In this case, Couter reportedly agreed to add conditions to “call their bluff.” The cancellation at this public university raises serious free speech issues. Coulter could however find herself threatened with arrest if the campus police deemed her to be a trespasser in a given area. That would itself be highly problematic given that fact that much of the campus is open to the public.
Berkeley was once the symbol of the fight for free speech. It is now increasingly viewed as the symbol of mob rule. Rather than maintain a free and open forum of ideas, Berkeley officials are cancelling any speakers who will not be tolerated by the most violent elements of its community. It teaches a chilling message to a generation that seems increasingly inclined to embrace censorship and speech regulations. Worse yet, it reaffirms the control of Berkeley by the lowest common element of the mob.
This Up-skirt Update just in!
“BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — University of California, Berkeley officials said Thursday they have a ‘grave concern’ of violence on campus if Ann Coulter follows through on her vow to speak next week at the university.
“Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks instead proposed an alternate May 2 date for the conservative author.
Dirks said police have ‘very specific intelligence regarding threats that could pose a grave danger to the speaker,’ her audience and protesters. He urged Coulter to speak at the later date instead.
“Campus Republicans invited Coulter to speak at Berkeley April 27 on the subject of illegal immigration.On Wednesday, UC Berkeley officials announced they were calling off the event because of security concerns, prompting Coulter to say she plans to come anyway.
“Dirks said Thursday that Coulter’s reaction led him to launch an expanded search for an ‘appropriate, protectable venue.’ ”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/uc-berkeley-flip-flops-ann-coulter-proposes-may-204208972.html
“Dirks said police have ‘very specific intelligence regarding threats that could pose a grave danger to the speaker,’ her audience and protesters. He urged Coulter to speak at the later date instead.”
What!? Are the protesters otherwise booked on May 2nd? Perhaps they’ll be exhausted after their all-night celebration on May Day?
Dirks is a moron if he believes the protesters give a rats ass about the calendar.
LOL! They need a day off after their May Day Commie celebration.
Coulter and other conservatives are merely baiting stupid liberals. The intolerance of the left, manifested by hissy fits like this, helped elect Trump. Coulter is just suckering stupid liberals into Trump’s reelection, almost a lock @ this point.
“Almost a lock @this point”? Have you seen the polls lately? Or, are you just trying to stir the pot?
You mean the polls that had Brexit losing and Hillary winning? LOL. You liberals are dumber than a bag o’ hammers.
“The polls” have LePen losing. Wanna bet?
@ Ace Alpha
“Liberals are no different than ISIS!!!! If they can’t get their way the want to use violence to enforce it! That to me is Terrorism in our own country and it needs to be dealt with the same as Terrorism!”
Right on again, Ace! Libruls are terribly terroristic, and if we’re to balance the ol’ scales with mindless revenge and really generate us some lawn ordure, we’re gonna have to assault the assaulters, murder the murders, and terroriize the terrorists right back!
An eye for an eye might make the whole world blind, but at least there would be less traffic and more parking spaces!
@Ace Alpha
“I’m sorry but it’s time for a new law to be enforced! Any protester or anyone for that matter that uses violence towards another human being should be beaten severely! It’s time to put a little scare into the violent people of America if we’re ever going to have law and order! It’s time for the kind of change that’s going to make a (REAL) difference. If anyone has a better idea that would actually work I’d like to hear it!”
Hear, hear, Ace! The first order of business is to replace all those panty-waisted LEOS who are too testosterone-deprived to mete out the kind of consciousness-raising therapy that you recommend! And if too few tough-love LEOs are to be found, then we should organize civilian cadres of skull-crackers!
Let the beatings begin and continue until morale (and behavior) improves!
I don’t know if 138+ comments on this topic is evidence that free speech is alive and well, or just more evidence of just how much work self-governance is.
“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech” Benjamin Franklin
Liberals are no different than ISIS!!!! If they can’t get their way the want to use violence to enforce it! That to me is Terrorism in our own country and it needs to be dealt with the same as Terrorism!
The first amendment cuts both ways. It’s what has kept us free for a long time, and the right has no moral compass here at all, just more hypocrisy.
and the right has no moral compass here at all, just more hypocrisy.
You’d have a hard time locating any conservative group who prevented the usual spew-producers from speaking on a college campus. Quit projecting.
The United States Department of Justice must immediately indict the president of UC-Berkeley and any of his co-conspirators who are attempting to deny the civil rights of Ann Coulter and the pro-America students at UC-Berkeley. Also, Congress should immediately prohibit any federal funds from being disbursed to UC-Berkeley in any form.
I’m sorry but it’s time for a new law to be enforced! Any protester or anyone for that matter that uses violence towards another human being should be beaten severely! It’s time to put a little scare into the violent people of America if we’re ever going to have law and order! It’s time for the kind of change that’s going to make a (REAL) difference. If anyone has a better idea that would actually work I’d like to hear it!
Ann has a right to speak!! Good for her. Shame on the left. State funded school?
Good girl, Anne Coulter..make the point.
Don’t like Coulter; don’t agree with her. Nevertheless SHE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK. Violent protesters should be arrested. Peaceful protests should be left alone.
Violent protesters should be beaten severely with a taste of their own medicine or else it isn’t ever going to stop!
Breaking News! Berkeley Campus On Lockdown After Loose Pages From ‘Wall Street Journal’ Found On Park Bench
http://www.theonion.com/article/berkeley-campus-lockdown-after-loose-pages-wall-st-55815
“At press time, a black-clad group of 50 students were throwing bottles at the bench while chanting, “No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist U.S.A!”
😊Great story, Bob. I usually read The Onion and Weekly World News to keep up current events, but I missed the Berkeley/ WSJ piece.
Notice how “the mob” and the power elite are actually on the same side nowadays. Or was it ever any different?
And the mob is dressing like ISIS.
The black blocs have been around since the eighties so no they are not dressing like ISIS. ISIS is dressing like them.The black blocs ruin peaceful protests. They are anarchists.
In a sense this whole idea of whom may speak and not, ratcheted up not only at the UCB campus but other UCs in the state… first the intensely pro Israel, or Zionist groups became more strident, they tried to shut down speakers but stopped short of violence… but it was really Muslim groups who began to state this or that speaker should not be allowed on campus as they personally (or the religion, grafted to them like skin) found offense. And everyone should stop brake and do as the Muslim students wanted. [shrug]
And since that it has gotten increasingly bad, in my view.
A bunch of liberal candy ass loser whinebags too chicken shit to show their faces. They should clear out the conservatives and drop a MOAB in Berkeley.
pretty sure if one pokes around online, there is plenty of “leftist” groups the Antifas and By Any Means Necessary, others, who promise violence if people they don’t like come to speak. The best I can tell, violence comes from both “sides”. At this point, I think the masks worn in these riots, blac bloc and others, need to be banned. IF they show up, stop them and escort them off campus at the least or to a temporary holding area. Protest fine, destruction and violence, no.
The whole thrust of shutting Milo down was the rioters were there to “prevent hate speech”, something that now is a holy calling. Much damage was caused, quite a lot to the Student Union . The dollar number bandied about was 100K but it looked like more to me.
Here’s another ‘Trans’ word to describe what leftists are doing to college campuses and free speech: Transmogrification.
BTW: Jonathan, you omitted the title of the book bottle blondie is attempting to hawk: “In Trump We Trust”. In other words, she’s equating the Rump with God.
Do you think that makes a difference? This isn’t an issue involving free speech at all: it is marketing, pure and simple. Wake up and smell what you’re shoveling.
well, I personally heard both Pelosi and Feinstein at a triple tier fundraiser for Obama in August, 2008 in San Francisco, hawk him as “sent to us by God”.
And those two are elected rather than just self appointed speakers. There was no shortage of selling Obama as all but a sainted preacher to whom we must listen.
I would never be so stupid, nor so commercial, as to put the questionable gloss of religion on ANY pol, who one after the other are very rank merchandise. A quick upcoming sell-by-date stamped on all of them.
Your argument is off-point. They weren’t motivated by selling a book and weren’t demanding to appear on a college campus where there would logically be substantial upheaval by comparing someone as flawed and controversial as Trump with God.
No a couple of over the hill Dem party leaders hawked a craven pol as sent by Jesus. Don’t make me laugh too hard now. They def had something to sell – and it was Obama as a messenger of god.
I frankly don’t believe that the UC campus is as dangerous to a range of speakers as the leadership (long with Berkeley mayor) paint it to be. They want it that way, it suits them. There is a known element in Berkeley that has vowed to disrupt “by any means necessary” any speaker they don’t want to come on the campus.
As I said up thread, 2 days before all the violence at Cal, Milo spoke at the campus at San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast. Yes there were protests, yes there were police on campus but he spoke as arranged and the place was not trashed. I am sick of knock down drag outs and a lot of destruction painted as righteous shutting down of “hate speech”.
Natcha,
I’ll agree with you, Coulter is an idiot out for publicity. So what?
San Fransisco points out other publicity tours by politicians and their minions. Obama has been compared to Jesus by many of his followers. They even had WWOD bracelets instead of the WWJD ones. So comparisons of presidents to god figures, while disgusting, is hardly new and different!
As others are pointing out, you do seem to have a very specific criteria for who will be allowed to speak and who will not be allowed to speak. That’s not our Constitution. In our Constitution, each citizens decides who they don’t want to LISTEN to and who they do want to listen to. Further, it is incumbent upon citizens to support each other’s rights. It is not incumbent upon us to like any person, or to agree with them, or to be their fawning supporter. It is simply incumbent upon us to protect their rights as delineated in the Constitution. That means an idiot who compares Trump to god on a publicity tour is allowed to speak.
I support the rights of the students to not get punched in the face by Coulter’s neo nazi followers. Protecting the students should come before indulging some anti Muslim anti Jewish narcissistic celebrity.
DaveT,
I support the right of students not to get punched in the face by anyone for any reason. It’s not a question of failing to protect people from physical violence. There are ways to do this that do no involve revocation of the right of free speech. Someday, a speak whom you agree with may have a group threaten to commit violence if they enter the campus.
Either we support everyone’s rights or everyone will eventually lose those rights. (It’s already happened for the most part.)
Considering what happened at Berkeley last weekend it appears they are not currently in a position to protect the students. Coulter can rent a hall and speak there and she can assume the liability. Coulter, a Palm Beach resident, can afford to do just that.
Actually they were in position, just chose not to do anything about it.
A woman was punched in the face by a non-student protestor while the Berkeley police were under orders to stand down and do nothing. Supposedly the guy is an ex-Marine, BTW. If so, the Marines should denounce him. I know quite a few Marines, and punching women in the face is not their idea of honor. The guy is a cowardly punk.
So you admit publically that you’re an Idiot! And just whom is going to punch whom in the face? From past events the FACT is that it’s been the other way around. Hired thugs by George Soros to disrupt anything the left disagrees with. I’ve read several of Ann Coulter’s books and no where do I see she’s anti Muslim or anti Jewish. She is however anti progressive liberal fascism that’s being indoctrinated into weak minded young people and others like you. You’re KIND are no better than the Nazi party, Communist Party, or the radical Islamic Terrorists. So if I say in Ann we trust, in family we trust, or in American we trust, or anything for that matter which could be inserted into that phrase, you small minded people believe the phrase can only be used with God as printed on US currency is as simply absurd as you are.
Your failure to correctly define the perpetrators of violence as the leftist students and members of antifa. Blantantly exposes your ignorance of the true nature of these clashes. The violent mob rule displayed by opponents of conservative ideals is deservedly being met with resistance. The pricipals many men have died to defend are being trampled upon by these face mask wearing cowards. Defending free speech should not have come to this in America.
One, it takes lots of brain power to get a Law Degree which Ann Coulter has. Two, she is an author of many best sellers!!! How much “REAL” Education do you have in the first place?
So Ann Coulter is an idiot. Here’s the way I look at it. I worked my way through school, got my Masters and went to work. I saved and saved. Finally, 7 years later a company came up for sale because the owner died without a will. I got permission from the bank to bid up to 650 K. I was bidding against the big boys like Chevron and Phillips. Those were the two longest weeks of my life but I went for the whole thing and bid the full 650 and everybody backed off. I was able to pay off that loan in 1 1/2 years and then began making money. Now I own 5 companies. Miss Coulter came up much like me….. working hard and taking risks. She’s banked tens of millions of dollars and will never want for anything. How about you? How’s your career going? Who’s the idiot?
Natacha your comment just reiterates what the left does today. Instead of making a valid argument you use insults and personal smears. It most certainly is an issue of free speech. The university does not want her to speak solely because she has a different view than they espouse. It used to be that universities welcomed all ideas and points of view. Now they only accept one point of view. That of the radical left. Look up Nazi Germany and its roots. Maybe you will get a clue.
The Fascism of the Hard Left has overrun universities.
Every religion undergoes reformations, and Leftism is no exception. Moderates who identify Left may be closer to Classical Liberalism than the Left of today.
“The Fascism of the Hard Left has overrun universities.” It couldn’t be they’re trying to protect people and property, could it?
Limp wristed logic
That’s a false argument they hide behind.
Bob, it’s the law in the 9th Circuit.
What is the standard to judge whether they have made a good faith effort to protect free speech rights? Because they say so?
It’s “they [school officials] say so” unless and until a court gets involved and reviews their analysis.
Can a complaint be filed by a student or student group directly to the Dept of Education Civil Rights Division asking for an investigation?
I suppose, and I’m sure Betsy DeVros would be happy to oblige. I don’t know that there’s any harm at this point, however, since the school’s renewed invitation.
No, it couldn’t be. What a lame excuse to continue to erode freedom of speech, assembly, and expression in this country. Sad situation now, but even a sadder day for civil liberties when the products of Berkley et al take over leadership positions.
You protect people by arresting rioters and vandals thereby maintaining peace!
Well, that would be true if they feared their students. If far Left students across the country are so out of control that the administrators fear they will burn down the school if they hear an opposing opinion, is stripping the free speech rights of other students and otherwise allowing them to be harassed an appropriate answer?
I submit that, first, they may need to revisit their admissions policy if terrorist students have taken command of the school. Second, they should warn students they will be expelled if they engage in violence against another student over political differences, and suspended over harassment. How many will fight the good fight if it goes on their academic record? And then they need to have the police present at the next few conservative events. Once the students learn the school means business, after some have been expelled, arrested, and suspended, they will behave in a more civilized manner.
Is the answer to racists on campus that blacks should be prevented from voicing their opinions or holding events because it might trigger the racists?
I think not.
This oppression and harassment must be dealt with firmly. But it will not happen because too many professors and staff participate in the harassment themselves.