Free Talk Live

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) released its 2012 list of the 12 Worst Colleges for Free Speech in The Huffington Post. Harvard is new to the list this year, joining Yale, Syracuse, and the University of Cincinnati at the top of the list.

A young activist describes how universities became the most authoritarian institutions in America.
At Yale University, you can be prevented from putting an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on your T-shirt. At Tufts, you can be censured for quoting certain passages from the Quran. Welcome to the most authoritarian institution in America: the modern university—"a bizarre, parallel dimension," as Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, calls it.

I think that this story speaks for itself, but this is another story highlighting an attack against free speech at Universities. I recently graduated from Carleton University and I wish I could say that these kind of events were rare. This piece has many priceless quotes including “Only someone who had gone to university could write something so utterly stupid,” referring to the public explanation given by the individual who tore down the free speech wall.

Much more in the news article itself, but you have to read it to believe it.

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It’s OK to make a goofy film about Bigfoot on Mount Monadnock without a state permit despite New Hampshire regulations, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled – but only because the peak in Jaffrey is so well known that it constitutes a “traditional public forum,” where free speech is especially protected.

DETROIT, March 13, 2012—Oakland University in Michigan has denied the appeal of a student who was barred from campus, suspended for three semesters, and required to undergo "sensitivity" counseling for authoring a class assignment in which he stated that he found his instructors attractive. While the assignment specifically permitted students to write creatively about any topic, the university bizarrely classified his "Hot for Teacher" essay as "unlawful." Joseph Corlett came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.

This DOJ hack was asked four times if his department will not attempt to criminalize blasphemy in the future. This guy, Edward Perez, who is the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, weaseled out of answering by stuttering and asking for a proposal from congress, and even using the old standby of threats and "depending on the circumstances. To sum up, this jackass refused to answer if the DOJ would in fact violate the right to free speech.

The Harm in Hate-Speech Laws

by David Gordon

Recently by David Gordon: Ralph Raico on Authentic Liberalism

The Harm in Hate Speech • By Jeremy Waldron • Harvard University Press, 2012 • vi + 292 pages

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Young voters helped pass laws legalizing marijuana in Washington and Colorado, but many still won't be able to light up. Most universities have codes of conduct banning marijuana use, and they get millions of dollars in funding from the federal government, which still considers pot illegal. With the money comes a requirement for a drug-free campus, and the threat of expulsion for students using pot in the dorms.