"Free speech for me, but you need an opposing voice for balance"
Free speech just got kicked in the ass at California State University at Los Angeles (my alma mater) when conservative pundit Ben Shapiro's speaking appearance was cancelled by the president of the school, a hack named William Covino.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/02/23/days-before-scheduled-event-university-cancels-conservative-writers-lecture-due-to-its-dedication-to-the-free-exchange-of-ideas/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Firewire%20-%20HORIZON%202-23-16%20FINAL&utm_term=Firewire
So, according to Covino's thinking, figures like Cornel West and Angela Davis can speak without having opposing voices on the stage for balance, but Ben Shapiro, a conservative, has to share the stage with opposing voices.
I really hope Shapiro and the Young America's Foundation follow through on their promise of going to CSULA Thursday. (I wish I could make it.) In addition, it is time to bring in the lawyers.
When I was about ten, students at the college where my father taught at the time invited George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, to speak. Most of the faculty strenuously objected, but decided if the students voted to invite him, it should not be squelched from above. Many of the faculty picketed the speech. The students weren't really Nazi, more like, they thought it would be a lark to invite this wierdo. Rockwell was quote in the local paper saying "You can't fight communism unless you understand that it is Jewish. I am not saying that all Jews are communists, but I am saying that all communists are Jews." (The CPUSSR central committee was about one third Jewish, and Red Army field commanders about forty percent, which falls well short of "all" or even a majority).
ReplyDeleteThis is much more the way to handle such things. The top administrators may agree, or not, with any given speaker. Students or faculty can invite almost anyone they want, who will rise or fall on the merits of what they have to say, which may well be pure bunk. Most of the really dubious ones will be a flash in the pan, at best. Anyone who wants can picket, or take videos, but not interrupt.