Rutgers Gymnasium
"It's a general building."
“If you take that swastika and put it on the door of a dormitory, that’s not protected,” Barchi argued in return, “but if it is a general building on the university, by first amendment rights, it’s protected.”
-Robert Barchi, President of Rutgers University
We have written a lot about Rutgers and its problems with anti-semitism in the past few years. Presently, there are three professors at Rutgers who are under fire for their anti-semitic screeds. Two of them have been the subjects of Fousesquawk posts. Last Thursday, Rutgers president Robert Barchi addressed the issues at a town hall and declared it was all free speech.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/11/20/rutgers-president-defends-academic-freedom-of-three-professors-blasted-for-comments-on-israel-jews/
With the possible exception of Chikindas, Barchi seems to feel there is no problem with these professors and what they say and write. From his quote above I gather that if a student or professor wanted to hang a swastika on a "general" campus building, it would be just fine and dandy. It's academic freedom. I guess it's OK for a professor to hang a portrait of Adolf Hitler in the classroom at Rutgers. I guess it would be OK if someone wanted to hang the American flag on campus to half staff in memory of Charles Manson, who just died in a California prison hospital.
Yes, it's not easy to draw the line with issues of hate speech vs free speech. Much hate speech is protected as Barchi knows. In addition, is the offensive material on someone's personal social media or expressed within the scope of official university business?
Barchi also has a right to free speech. In my view, he should loudly condemn the odious statements made by these people. A university should also ask itself at what point a professor is bringing shame and discredit to the institution. That point, in my view, has already been reached at Rutgers.
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